After The Spider Bite
by K.I. Hernandez
Summary: Cindy Moon's life was average for a rebellious teenager. That is until she and her friend were bitten by a spider that gave them superpowers and as if that wasn't enough, her childhood friend thought it would be a good idea to swing around Queens looking for a fight in a onesie. Left with no choice, Cindy has to cope with her new life after the spider bite. Easier said than done.
1. Second Bitten Part 1

.

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 1: Second Bitten Part 1**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I Hernandez**

.

.

 _Cindy Moon_

.

"Tomorrow is the school field trip!"

I froze mid-bite and looked up from my sandwich, turning to the source of the over-excited squeal with a decidedly blank stare.

My childhood friend, Peter Parker, looked positively ecstatic with wide excited eyes and an ear-to-ear grin on his face. Judging by how he was looking right at me when he said that, he was trying to rub off some of that excitement on me.

So, I turned back to my sandwich and took another bite, as if he hadn't said anything.

Out of my peripherals, I could see Peter deflate visibly and I winced.

Part of me did feel really bad for raining on his parade so effortlessly and thoroughly.

But the rest of me was still pissed at the fact that he had just broached the subject of tomorrow's field trip; a subject that I was trying to avoid at all costs for two reasons.

One, I had to go on that stupid trip, despite having absolutely no interest in it.

And two, the subject, whenever mentioned, reminds me of this mornings' latest family drama.

And with my advanced eidetic memory, that means I have to relive the entire memory as if I was still in it.

Just one of the many reasons why my picture perfect memory is more trouble than its worth.

"Why are you like this, Cin? Aren't you even a little excited?" Peter asked curiously, albeit put off, obviously trying not to let my disinterest get to him.

I just shrugged at him, still eating.

"Come on, you've got to be at least a little excited." Peter's enthusiasm was overwhelming.

I looked up at my sandwich and gave him a blank stare and raised an eyebrow. I really hope he would take the hint.

He didn't.

Instead, he held up a finger and gestured in a way that asked me to stay with him and hear him out.

"I know you're not as into this stuff as I am." Very true. "And that you prefer gymnastics, ice skating and soccer." Also true.

"If you know that much why are we still having this conversation" I muttered under my breath.

"But just think about all the exhibits we'd get to see!" Peter practically squealed. "Maybe they have one on-"

Aaaaand, that's my cue to start tuning out the conversation because I knew from personal experience that the next words that would come out of his mouth would involve a lot sciencey techno-lingo that would completely go over my head.

Normally this would be a good thing, for obvious reasons, but with the field trip still in the forefront of my mind, I couldn't help but think about this morning's family drama, something I've been trying to avoid doing, since I left the apartment.

 _"I hate you!"_

I winced as those three words echoed in my mind and the subsequent image of my mother's face that followed it.

The thing about having the ability to retain everything you see is that you remember everything.

And forget nothing.

Even the most painful memories; the ones that we all try so hard to erase from our minds. I can't do that. Not even if I wanted to.

No matter how much time passed, I can recall any memory I have as if it had just happened to me a second ago. A memory could be decades old and it wouldn't matter at all; it would still be crystal clear. I won't forget about anything that's happened to me.

So, those three harsh words, the fact that I said it to my own mother, and the shocked and hurt look on her face is seared into my mind, until the day I died and I will relive the entire experience every time I think about it.

Damn my advanced eidetic memory.

I really should think about something else, anything else. But that was easier said than done, since each flashback of this morning's fight triggered even more flashbacks until every scintilla of my mind was preoccupied with reliving the latest drama in the moon family.

As if I needed that right now.

Still, I shouldn't feel too bad about, right? I mean, girls my age get into fights with their parents all the time and wasn't teenage angst about your parents actually normal for teenagers? Wasn't it like one of the most defining traits of that phase in one's life? Isn't it practically a requirement?

Also, I was hardly the first teenager to have said those three hurtful words to their mother, some even say it to both their parents on a regular basis, and compared to them I was a freaking saint.

Plus, I was hardly in the wrong.

Okay, sure maybe I shouldn't have lost my temper and snapped at my mother like that, but she was the one who kept pushing me to do things I had no interest in doing.

But all things considered, I've been rather generous and patient about the whole thing wasn't I? I humoured them and their suggestions, didn't I?

I didn't even want to go to Midtown High but I'm a student here and am attending classes aren't I?

I didn't want to join the academic decathlon team, but I won the nationals for them last year, didn't I?

I did all that for them and humoured all the requests and suggestions they made since they found out about my eidetic memory, practically bending over backwards for them, but when it's my turn to want to do something, they couldn't even bring themselves to return the favour!

How was that fair?!

"Cindy?"

"What?!"

The sight of Peter's hurt face made me wince. I didn't mean to sound so harsh. This morning's memory just got me riled up.

I took a deep breath and sighed, running a hand down my face. "I'm sorry, Pete. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Hurt gave way to concern and worry as he stared at me. "Are you okay, Cin? Did something happen?"

I shook my head at him and focused back on my sandwich.

I could practically feel his stare boring into the side of my head and I tried my best to ignore it.

I couldn't.

I let out another sigh as I turned to look at him. Sure enough, he was giving a very sceptical look.

No point in lying, then.

"Look, Pete, I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" I said tiredly as I rubbed my forehead.

His brows promptly furrowed in confusion for a few seconds, before they suddenly shot up in what I assume is realisation. I just hope he won't blurt it out loud because the last thing I ne-

"You have a co-ed game tomorrow!"

Damn it.

I sighed again and looked at him tiredly. "Yes, Pete. I do have a co-ed game tomorrow; one that I won't be able to go to because mother dearest all but forced me to go on the field trip. Thank you for reminding me." I said sarcastically.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, Pete. Can we just not talk about it anymore?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that." Peter nodded with a sympathetic smile on his face, one that I returned tiredly.

"Thanks, Pete."

I knew how much this field trip meant to him and I knew that it's all he wants to talk about right now. It meant a lot to me that he would keep a lid on his excitement for my sake.

Besides, maybe I was blowing this out f proportion. Maybe, the field trip won't be as bad as I think it is.

.

I was right.

This field trip isn't as bad as I thought it was.

It's so much worse.

"Now, everyone, let's move on to our next exhibit, the proper handling of nuclear waste through the use of-"

I stifled a yawn with my hand as the tour guide kept drawling on and on about the robot show behind him, gesturing grandly and a wide smile on his face.

I inwardly rolled my eyes at the spectacle. He was really laying it on thick for the rest of the class, who were looking at the generic-looking, lab coat-wearing brunette, like a bunch of fish out of water, with mouths gaping.

I spared the robotics show a glance and admitted that it did look pretty cool.

To anyone who wasn't me, that is.

Honestly, I have been trying to fight off the sheer boredom that was threatening to knock me unconscious since the tour began and the darn thing has barely started.

I let out a frustrated sigh and shook my head in an attempt to get rid of the drowsiness.

"Why did I agree to this again?" I asked to no one in particular.

The answer was obvious, I didn't.

More specifically, I had no desire to go on the school field trip to General Techtronics and the only reason I was even here is because mother dearest had all but forced me to go.

"Stupid eidetic memory" I muttered under my breath before scanning my gaze across the laboratory in an attempt to pass the time or find something, anything that could cure my incessant boredom.

No dice. Glass panels, lab coats, and metal as far as the eye could see. It's like I stepped into one of those germicidal soap commercials.

Resigned to my fate, I turned back to the tour guide, who still wasn't finished with his over-the-top presentation, and the rest of my class, who were still gaping like fish out of water.

If I had to suffer through boredom, then the least I could do is suffer beside my childhood friend, Peter.

My brows suddenly furrowed in confusion as I scanned the group of students in search of my best friend. Where was he?

I frowned as I looked at the class again. Did I just miss him.

Nothing. Peter wasn't there.

"Did he get bored and leave for the bathroom?" I muttered before shaking my head at the thought.

This was Peter Parker, he had been excited about this trip, since it was first announced and nothing short of an alien attack over New York would be enough to make him miss this exhibition, much less a full bladder. He would let it burst like a dam first, before choosing to miss a second of this trip.

I spotted Peter's other friend, Ned Leeds, in the crowd and made my way over to him.

I grabbed him by the shoulder and half-turned him to face me.

"Ned." I hissed.

He looked surprised. I couldn't really blame him, we barely say two words to each other, despite having the same best friend. "Cindy?"

"Have you seen Peter?" At that, he looked around the class with worried eyes. "I swear he was here a second ago."

"Did he tell you that he was going somewhere or something?" I prompted.

He shook his head.

I chewed my lip at that, did he get lost? That's unlikely, Peter was smart enough not to wander around in a place like this, despite how eager he could be about anything science-related. Also, if he did, he would've his way back to the class by now.

Ned was still looking around for our wayward best friend when I saw it from my peripheral vision.

Flash Thompson was smirking and staring right at us.

I turned to him sharply and he quickly looked back at the tour guide, though he couldn't quite get the smug smile off his face.

What I wouldn't give to punch that smug little smile right off his face with a handful of teeth to go along with it.

I felt kind of stupid for taking this long to figure out why Peter went AWOL because of course that little shit would pull a stunt like this during the field trip Peter had been so excited about.

Of freaking course, he would, because why wouldn't he? After all, Peter has been looking forward to this trip for over two months now, what better way to mess with him than to make him miss out most of it.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists as I kept staring at that smug little grin that was barely hidden by his lips.

I should punch that grin right off his face. Just walk right over there and slug him across the face for pulling this kind of stunt. Maybe that'll get the guy to leave my best friend alone.

Or maybe he'll just make his bullying even worse, complain about the incident to the principal, and get me suspended or worse. Leaving Peter all alone to deal with his incessant bullying.

With a drawn out sigh, I let the tension slowly leave my body, uncurling my fists at my side and letting my jaw go lax. Punching Flash Thompson across the face isn't the best action right now; no matter how good it would feel.

First things first, I needed to find Peter and something tells me that Flash isn't just going to tell me where he is, which means that I have to go look for him the old fashioned way.

Fantastic.

I let out a resigned sigh, before turning to Ned, who looked very worried for our friend. "Hey, Ned" He turned to me, still looking worried about our friend. "I'm gonna go look for Peter, okay? Try to cover for us."

Ned nodded at me. "Yeah, sure I can do that. No problem."

For some reason, I doubted that, but I nodded nonetheless and slipped away from the class discretely. Not all that hard, since they were still gawking and gaping.

I slipped out of the exhibition room completely unnoticed and ended up in the long hallway we went through about a minute ago.

I couldn't help but frown at the sheer number of doors on both sides of it. It would take me hours to search through them all and I didn't have hours. It's only a matter of time before the tour guide notices we're missing.

"Then again, maybe not. After all, he had no clue that Peter was missing." I muttered under my breath as I scanned the doors on either side of the hallway. They all looked exactly alike, same color, same metallic finish; the only way to tell them apart was the nameplates on them.

Chances are Flash tossed Peter into one of these rooms, but it can't be just any room if his goal was to hide Peter until the end of the tour, there were a lot of workers here after all. So, a room that was rarely opened like a janitor's closet or something like that.

I moved further down the hall and scanned the various nameplates, before I stopped in front of the room I was looking for near the end of the hall.

"Utilities" the nameplate read.

Well, that was as close to a janitor's closet as I can get in this place.

I raised my hand and knocked on the metal door three times, before calling out. "Pete? Are you in there?"

 _CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. BRIIIINNNG. THUD._ "OW!" _CLANG. BANG. THUMP. WHOMP._ "OWWW!"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head in exasperation. "Yup, he's definitely in there." I muttered as I grabbed the doorknob and, without preamble, pulled the door open.

My childhood friend unceremoniously fell out of the closet and out on the floor with a startled yelp, before he was promptly buried by several metal buckets, mops, brooms, and bottles that came falling out with him.

Ah, this must be the infamous Parker luck he kept muttering about. How every time something good happened to him, something even worse will immediately follow. Now, I get why he hated it so much. Then again, it could just be his two left feet working against him.

I raised an eyebrow at my dishevelled friend as he sat up and started tossing the various supplies back into the room he fell out of.

"Flash?" I asked needlessly.

He nodded in agreement. "Flash."

I swear, one day that pathetic excuse for a decathlete will get what's coming to him. Maybe I can accidentally kick a soccer ball right in his face during gym.

Seeing the resigned and dejected expression on his face as he tossed supplies into the room, I knew that he was mostly sad about missing the field trip. I couldn't help but speak up.

"You don't have to worry, Pete. You didn't really miss all that much; just an overenthusiastic and overly-exaggerated presentation on the -wonders and importance of the fabulous disposal of nuclear wastage here at General Techtronics!" I tried my best to mimic the tour guide's voice and gestures as I quoted him, hoping it'll make Peter a little less down.

He snorted before chuckling under his breath and I beamed. It worked!

"You're just exaggerating, there's no way he would say it like that." Peter said disbelievingly while still chuckling.

I giggled a little before gesturing to the door to the exhibit. "Then by all means, Mr. Parker. See for yourself."

Peter smiled at me. "Don't mind if I do, Miss Moon."

I rolled my eyes amusedly, before offering a hand to pull him up. He reached out to take it, but he suddenly jerked his hand away and cradled it to his chest. "OW!"

His face was contorted in pain. I was instantly worried. I reached out a hand to try and help. "Peter's what's wrong? What hap-"

A sharp pain lanced through my ankle sharply. "OW! What the heck?!"

My hands flew to my right ankle, trying to find what's wrong with it. All I found was a large red bump on the skin, like a bug bite.

I frowned as my eyes caught sight of something small next to my foot.

It was a spider and judging by the fact that it was curled up, it was also very much dead. Clearly, it was also the culprit for my mystery bug bite.

My eyes turned to Peter, who was still cradling his hand and reached out a hand. "Here, let me see."

After a bit of coaxing, he finally let me see his injured hand, albeit reluctantly. Sure enough, there was the same spider bite on the skin between his thumb and index finger.

"Stupid arachnids." I muttered as I let go of his hand.

He looked confused. "What?"

I gestured to the dead spider at my feet. His eyes lit up in curiosity as he leaned in to get a better look. I watched his brows furrow in confusion as he kept staring at the spider.

"Is it venomous?" I asked sounding worried. I knew I should've worn long pants instead of the short-sleeved cream shirt, black skirt, and doll shoes I had on.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

I turned to him sharply at that, my brows shooting up to my hairline. "You don't know?" I asked, sounding a little shrill.

His eyes looked sheepish behind his black framed glasses. "It's not really a species I've seen before, Cin. I haven't even heard of a bright blue and red species of spider before"

I took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly as I ran my fingers through my long, straight raven black hair. "So, we've apparently been bitten by an unknown species of spider that may or may not be venomous? That's what you're telling me?"

Looking sheepish, Peter nodded at me. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. Well, at least it wasn't boring anymore.

"I'm sorry." Peter said despondently and I turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "if you hadn't come looking for me, then-"

"Then you probably wouldn't have been found until the end of the day and if the spider was venomous then you wouldn't have gotten help in time." I continued pointedly with a hard stare.

He closed his mouth shut, but still looked guilty.

He was blaming himself because, of course, he would. This is Peter Parker we're talking about here. He does this kind of thing all the time, even when it couldn't have been possibly his fault. Well, I wasn't having any of it.

"Pete, stop. This isn't your fault, okay. Besides, it's already done, so there really isn't a point to pointing fingers." I said as calmly as I could and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Let's just get back to the exhibit, I know you've been looking forward to this trip for well over a month and I don't want you to miss out more of it."

Peter was taken aback. "But-"

"No buts, now get yours off the floor and stand up" I said with finality as I rose to my feet and offered him a hand.

He still looked guilty, unsure, and reluctant.

My patience was wearing thin, so I gave him a pointedly droll look and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm waiting."

He flinched a bit and took my hand before I pulled him up to his feet.

As we walked back to the exhibit room, half of my mind kept worrying about the spider bite and whether or not it was venomous, but the other half was too busy being relieved that I finally found my childhood friend.

Maybe this whole field trip wouldn't be so bad now that I had my best friend to rant to.

.

I was wrong.

The rest of the trip had taken a turn for the worst.

It's been roughly a few hours since I freed Peter from the utilities closet and ever since then I've been getting sporadic dizzy spells, each one lasting longer and getting more severe than the last. At first, it was just a momentary loss of balance for a second or two, but now it was like the whole room was a gyroscope and would toss and turn every which way.

There was also the persistent cold sweat, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me want to empty my insides out on the flooring, and the painful throbbing in my forearms and the base of my skull.

It had gotten to the point that by the time the field trip was over and we were finally at school. I was practically dead on my feet and judging by the way Peter looked, I wasn't the only one.

"You feeling okay? You don't look so good." I asked concernedly, eying Peter's pale and pasty face.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm okay, Cin." Peter said distractedly as he adjusted his black glasses.

I rolled my eyes. "That's not suspicious at all, Pete. I'm sure May won't know something's wrong." I said sarcastically.

He turned to me with an annoyed glare but his eyes suddenly widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

I knew I looked just as bad, if not worse than he did, but I didn't like having my best friend look at me like I was an extra from the walking dead.

Hoping to lighten the mood, I chuckled at him. "Geez, I know I look good, Pete, but you don't have to stare." I said playfully and batted my eyelashes at him. "But if you must, feel free to do so."

His mouth clamped shut with a snap and blood rushed to his pale face, coloring it red.

I just giggled at him and shook my head exasperatedly.

Bad move.

The world suddenly gave a violent lurch and my laugh hitched in my throat as the world suddenly started spinning every which way. My ears were ringing in my ear and my vision kept splitting into doubles.

I was losing balance. I felt myself careen to the right.

My whole body ached and throbbed painfully. I couldn't catch myself. I was gonna fall.

This was going to hurt.

I felt something wrap around my waist, catching my fall. What was that? What stopped me? They felt like arms, who's arms were they?

The world gave another violent lurch. I felt like throwing up. I could practically taste the bile at the back of my throat.

Something blocks my vision. Couldn't tell what it was. Too blurry, like a camera out of focus. And the room was still spinning like a gyroscope.

Whatever it was though, it looked really familiar. Really familiar.

It was moving, too.

And there's two of them.

I wonder what these blurry, fuzzy, moving things were.

Whatever they were I wish they would stop shaking me. I was dizzy enough as it is.

"Cin?!"

They sounded familiar, too, but it sounded really far away. Maybe. Couldn't tell. Ears were still ringing.

"CIN?!"

Oh, that was Peter's voice. I was talking to him before I got another dizzy spell, I remember now. He sounds worried and more than a little panicked. I should do something to reassure him.

"Pete?" Christ, I sounded as bad as I felt. How was I supposed to reassure him when I sounded like I'm talking through gravel?

I think he sighed in relief, not entirely sure, ears were still ringing, my head feels like someone's tap dancing on it, and now black spots are starting to appear in my already out of focus and double-seeing vision.

That's not good.

"I knew I should've stayed at home." I managed to mutter.

The world went black.

.


	2. Second Bitten Part 2

**A/N: Okay, so before we all get to the story, I thought I would just make it clear that the only reason I even posted this story online is because I wanted to honor the memory of my idol, Stan Lee, and what better way to do that than by posting a story about his most popular creation, Spider-man.**

 **I have been writing down stories about spider-man and other superheroes since I was just a kid, but I never once posted online until less than a month ago. I just wanted to share with you all the stories that have been collecting dust on my computer.**

 **Now in the past few weeks one thing I noticed about this site is that there is a noticeable lack of stories on this site that have a Spider-man and Silk pairing (which sucks a bit for me because Cindy Moon's Silk is my favorite Spider-woman), which is why I decided that the first story I'll publish as an online fanfiction author will be about focus on the Spider-man and Silk pairing.**

 **Now, as I've said below the universe where this all takes place will be a hybrid between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the several other Marvel Universes that are a not under Marvel Studios. So, expect several characters to appear in this story, like Fox's Deadpool and Sony's Venom.**

 **Okay, now that that's out of the way, enjoy!**

 **.**

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 2: Second Bitten Part 2**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I. Hernandez**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Cindy Moon_

.

I am a coward.

A complete and utter coward.

Did I really just ditch my own mother this morning, after she had driven all the way down to our school, took me home in her car, carried me all the way up to my room, stayed up the entire night just to take care of me and make sure that I was still breathing, despite being past the brink exhaustion herself, because I didn't know how to talk to her after our recent argument?

Holy shit, I think I did.

I was going straight to hell for this.

Ugh, why did teenage hormones have to make it so easy to get into fights with your family, but not so easy to resolve them? Isn't there some sort of guidebook or instruction manual on how to resolve rebellious teenage fights? If there wasn't, somebody should really look into that, would save a lot of teenagers a whole lot of trouble and save families a whole lot of heartache.

Teenagers are good at getting into fights, not so good at getting out of them. Saying things we didn't really comes as naturally to us as breathing.

Being a teenager sucked.

Then again, what else is new?

I adjusted my grip on the straps of my shoulder bag as I stood in front of the stairs leading to Midtown High. I took a deep breath and another, before jogging up the stairs and tried to power walk through the crowded hallway.

Key word: Tried.

I couldn't be more than ten paces into the hallway when my head suddenly throbbed and my ears started ringing like a fire alarm.

Not again.

This was the last thing I needed. I did not want to have to deal with any stares or questions right now, so I resisted the urge to react and tried my best to not let the pain show on my face. Easier said than done.

 _Deep breaths, Cindy, just stand up straight and start jogging to your locker._ I thought to myself.

Trying my best to ignore the throbbing, I stood up and resumed my power walk through the halls.

I had expected the throbbing to last for the rest of the day, I didn't expect it to subside a few seconds into my power walk. It was so unexpected, I stopped right in the middle of the hallway.

Cautiously, I prepared for the throbbing headache to return, much worse than before.

It didn't.

Confused but grateful, I shrugged and continued on my way. I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Now, if only the ringing in my ears would stop.

As if on cue, the ringing in my ears slowly ebbed away, like a volume dial slowly getting turned down, until all I could hear was the background noise around me.

Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.

The day hasn't even started yet and weird things are already happening to me left and right.

"Calm down, Cindy. Don't read too much into it" I muttered under my breath. "You'll only freak yourself out."

Aaaand now I'm talking to myself.

Lovely.

Shaking my head furiously and slapping my cheeks a few times, I continued walking to my locker. Hopefully, I would've filled my quota for dealing with weird things by then.

Surprisingly, I didn't suffer any more episodes after that. Not when I reached my locker, not while I was opening my locker and not while I was putting away my books. It was probably just a phantom sensation or something like that.

I had just closed my locker when a very familiar and very incredulous-sounding voice reached my ears. "Cin?!"

I turned around and sure enough, Peter was walking towards me, surprise evident in his features.

As I watched him cross the distance between us, I frowned. There was this itching feeling that something was different about him, but I didn't know what.

Before I could figure what that something was, warm arms wrapped around my frame and my mind instantly grinded to a halt and my entire body froze.

Peter Parker was hugging me in the middle of the school hallway.

Here I thought I've already filled my quota for weird things today.

Before I could say some witty and sarcastic one-liner or do anything other than stand like a stone statue, Peter took a step back and broke the hug.

He did keep his hands just above my elbow, though. Surprisingly, I didn't really mind the contact as much I thought I would.

"What are you doing here?" He sounded equal parts worried, concerned, and disbelieving.

For no reason I could think of, those five words put me in a bad mood.

"Well, good morning to you, too, Pete." I said grumpily.

He looked exasperated. "I'm serious, Cin, what are you doing here?"

I rolled my eyes at the question. "Oh, gee, I don't know it's a Wednesday morning and I'm a student here, so what do you think?"

He groaned. "Cin"

Again, that rubbed me off the wrong way, so I huffed and turned to leave.

At least, I tried to leave, but his grip on my upper arms held me firm. Since when did he get this strong?! Last I checked, I was better than him in the physical department.

I wasn't giving up that easily though. If I can't get away from him, then I just wasn't gonna look at him.

I heard him sigh and I could feel his shoulders slump slightly. "Okay, that kinda came out wrong." I could practically see the dejected expression on his face.

I wasn't gonna let it get to me. "You think?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sorry"

I just nodded.

There was a stretch of silence for a few seconds until Peter spoke. "So...uh..."

I looked up at him with an impatient expression, silently prompting him to get on with it.

"Are you really okay? After yesterday, I mean." He asked hesitantly.

Not really, no, but I wasn't gonna tell him that.

"I could ask you the same thing." I retorted. "You didn't look so hot either."

"Yeah, but I'm fine now." He insisted.

I raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Are you?"

"You're the one who fainted." He pointed out.

"And you looked like you were seconds away from doing the same."

"At least I made it back to my own bed before I did"

Aha!

"So, you _did_ faint."

He winced at being caught and raised his finger, silently asking me to wait; he was probably going to backtrack. Not something he was good at.

"Okay, yeah, I did but I'm fine now." he insisted.

I didn't buy it for one second. My best friend is notorious for enduring in silence and willingly suffering at the expense of others.

The scepticism must've shown on my face. "Really, Cin. I'm fine. In fact, I feel way better today than I did my entire life." Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah, nothing makes your life infinitely better than a bite from a spider that may or may not have been venomous and may or may not have spent majority of its life crawling inside a facility that serves as storage for several elements and chemicals that can be fatal to humans." My voice practically oozed sarcasm.

"Okay, I know that what happened yesterday sounds really bad-"

"Understatement of the year."

"-and that we probably should be still in bed recovering-"

"The fact that we're even still alive, let alone walking, is nothing short of a miracle"

"But I'm serious, Cin." He was beaming now and I could tell that he had been waiting all morning to tell someone about this.

I wasn't going to rain on his parade, lest I drive a wedge between me and my oldest friend.

Instead I let out a sigh, shook my head, and gave him a small tired smile. "Enlighten me, then." I said amusedly

He gestured to his face with both hands and looked at me expectedly. "Exhibit A"

He wasn't wearing his glasses. That must've been the something different I failed to notice.

I keep my face blank as I deadpan, "You have a mustache drawn on your face with permanent marker."

"Wait, what!?" His hands instantly flew up to cover the nonexistent stache and I burst out laughing. Sometimes, Peter was too gullible for his own good.

He stopped covering his mouth and glared at me. "Oh, ha ha very funny." He drawled sarcastically.

"Hilarious." I agreed wholeheartedly.

Once I sobered up, I asked again and forced myself not to laugh at Peter's pouting face. "Okay, I'm serious now. Did you forget your glasses at home? How does that make your life better."

He beamed and exclaimed. "When I woke up this morning, I didn't need them anymore."

That was unexpected. "You...didn't need them anymore?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it was like every time I tried to put them on, everything was all blurry but when I had them off-"

"-you suddenly got 20/20 vision." I finished.

"Exactly."

Huh. That was definitely weird. Good, of course, but weird nonetheless.

Looks like I wasn't the only one with a quota to fill.

"Are you two just gonna stand around here all morning staring at each other or do you actually plan on getting to your classes."

Peter and I blinked and as one we turned to the source of the third voice.

An elderly man wearing tinted sunglasses and a janitor uniform was staring at us impatiently, one hand on his hip and the other holding onto a broom.

"Sorry about that, Stan. Just got a little carried away." I apologized and straightened up, as did Peter.

"Mhm-hm" he didn't look convinced but nodded all the same. "You should get a move on then"

Peter and I nodded in agreement before we turned to leave for our next class.

"So, I assume the better eyesight isn't the only thing that's got you in a better mood." I asked while we walked to our next class. "What else has you acting like a kid on christmas morning?"

He chose to ignore my kid comment. "So, do you know how I've always been thin and lanky"

I hummed thoughtfully and nodded. "You do give off the nerdy student vibe, yes." I looked him in the eye before continuing. "I assume that had changed since yesterday"

He nodded at me furiously. "I just woke up this morning and when I saw myself in the mirror my body was-"

I raised my hand up to his face. "I'm gonna stop you right there. I really don't want to hear about the details of your spider bite induced puberty. Bottom line is you're now more muscular than you have ever been in your whole life, do I have that right?"

He nodded at me. "That's right." He suddenly blinked before turning to look at me. "Wait, didn't you notice anything different about you today"

"I already have 20/20 vision, Pete. And aside from a bad headache nothing else has happened to me"

Hopefully, nothing else will.

"You haven't checked?" Peter asked incredulously. I just shrugged. "Why?"

Because I was in too much of a hurry to leave the house before mom wakes up to notice any changes, but he didn't need to know that.

Again, I shrugged. "Didn't really seem like a priority?"

He gaped at me disbelievingly. "What? Why? This could be the best thing that has ever happened to us!"

"Okay, Mr. Spider human." I rolled my eyes. "Just don't come crying to me when you start sprouting out extra pairs of eyes or start spinning webs out of your butt."

I could practically hear the sound of a record scratching as Peter suddenly froze, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

So much for not raining on his parade.

I raised an eyebrow and stopped to face him. "I'm guessing you haven't even thought of that?"

Still gaping, he shook his head.

I shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it, I'm sure none of that would happen." Probably. Maybe.

He was still gaping.

I groaned and crossed my arms. "Pete, I was just joking. Now, come on, we're gonna be late for class."

He didn't move a muscle.

Losing my patience, I sighed grabbed his hand and started pulling him along towards our next class. Hopefully, he would've snapped out of his daze by then.

I won't hold my breath, though.

.

I shouldn't be surprised.

Peter has just confessed all the different changes his body had gone through ever since the spider bite yesterday.

Since I was bitten by the same spider, I should've known that the same side effects could happen to me.

For all intents and purposes, I should have seen this coming.

That still didn't stop me from gaping at my gorgeous new body, which was clad in a white sports bra and white panties, in the mirror of the girl's locker room. Who could blame me? It looked like it belonged to a young Hollywood actress than a 15 year old high school girl going to midtown tech.

Okay, that was an exaggeration...for the most part.

My body didn't spontaneously turn into one that could rival the black widow or the scarlet witch, but it was on its way there, given a few more years at least.

One thing's for sure, though. I did not remember my body having all these hourglass curves yesterday; my body wasn't as filled out like it is, my waist wasn't so taut and flat, my hips didn't jut out subtly the way they did now, my butt wasn't as prominent as it is, and my...chest didn't bulge out like this.

Thankfully, I could still pass for a 15 year old girl...just one that has the body and physique of an 18-21 year old fitness model.

Once again, I should've seen this coming. I should've known that my body would...change the moment Peter said something about his body's changes since the spider bite this morning. I should've remembered that we had gym for last period.

And I should've realized that my normal baggy gym clothes would be tight and form-fitting if my body had changed this morning.

I groaned out loud and buried my face in my hands.

I should just stay in the girl's locker room until the end of gym class. I did not want to get gaped and gawked at by a bunch of hormonal high school boys because my gym clothes could barely fit me now.

I sighed and slowly ran my hands down my face.

As much as I wanted to just stay here in the girl's locker room, I knew I couldn't just cut classes, not if I wanted to enact my plan to patch things up with my Mom.

With another sigh, I picked up my gym clothes from where I threw them on the floor earlier and put them on with some effort.

Once that was done, I left the girl's locker room and made my way over to the bleachers as fast as I could without drawing any unwanted attention to myself. It didn't matter, though. Some of the boys and even some of the girls stopped their conversations and started staring at me.

So, much for not drawing unwanted attention to myself.

I plopped down on the lowest seat on the bleachers and just watched the other students go through exercises, still trying to ignore the stares some of the boys shot me.

Not a second sooner, someone plopped down beside and I froze, thinking that it was one of those guys who kept staring at me, but I relaxed once I realized that it was Peter.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked concernedly.

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said distractedly. "I just wish I had a baggier set of gym clothes is all"

At that, Peter looked over my shoulder, where I presumed some boys are staring at me, before he nodded at me. "I got a spare set of gym clothes in my locker. They were too big for me, so I've never really worn them. You can wear that if your clothes are too tight for you now" he offered with a gesture to my form-fitting clothes.

I smiled at the offer, but I shook my head nonetheless. "Thanks, Pete, but I doubt you want to send everyone in gym the wrong message"

He looked confused. "Message? What message?"

"That you and I are dating." I replied nonchalantly.

"What?!" He blurted a little too loudly, before he dropped his voice to a whisper. "What do you mean, why would they think we were dating? I was just gonna lend you some clothes."

I blinked at him in response. I thought it was pretty obvious actually, but then again Peter does have a history of being oblivious, despite his intelligence.

"You really don't know?"

He nodded at me.

Looks like I'm gonna have to spell it out for him, then.

"Okay, so I had just walked out of the girl's locker room wearing clothes that hug the curves my body now has, which implies that I'm trying to get attention." I started.

Peter nodded at me with furrowed brows.

"Then out of the blue, you sit next to me and we have a hushed conversation."

"That's perfectly normal, we've been friends since pre-school" he retorted confusedly.

I nodded. "That's true, but not everyone here knows that."

He still looked a little puzzled, but nodded for me to continue.

"Now, if I walked back to the girl's locker room and walked out wearing more loose-fitting gym clothes. That implies that you didn't like the fact that a lot of boys were staring at my figure and the only reason you would have a problem with that is that if you and I were dating and that you were being possessive." I concluded.

Peter still looked like he didn't understand. "That doesn't make any sense. There's plenty of other reasons why you would change your clothes."

"True, but that's the reason they'll think"

"That's a little presumptuous, isn't it?"

"Welcome to the world of high school gossip" I deadpanned. "where we'll spin the wildest tales about you for breathing wrong."

He snorted out a chuckle. "Is it really that bad?"

I snorted in disbelief and nodded. "It is. You have no idea how outrageous the stories high school students with too much time on their hands could come up with."

"Oh, come on, how bad can they be?"

"By the end of today, I bet half of the school will be convinced we've been replaced by celebrities under disguises and they're in one of those hidden camera shows."

He gaped at me in disbelief before he burst in a smile. "No...Really?"

"And that's the least ridiculous thing they could come up with" I replied with an insistent nod.

"What could be more ridiculous than that?"

In response, I brought my hands up and schooled my features to imitate a very popular meme and uttered: "Aliens"

He burst out laughing and I followed suit with my own high-pitched giggles.

My giggled suddenly hitched into a gasp as the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood up and the world slowed to a crawl. Acting on instinct I shot my hand forward in front of Peter's face.

Not a second later, a soccer ball landed in the palm of my hand with a lot of force.

I stared at the ball in open-mouthed shock and Peter quickly stopped laughing to do the same. I didn't know what surprised me more, the fact that I actually knew the ball was coming or that I was able to catch it without budging an inch.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Peter asked in astonishment.

"I don't know." I answered, sounding dazed.

"Do you think it has something to do with..." he trailed off and I knew he was referring to our shared little bug bite.

"That'd be my first guess" I was good at the game sure, but my body wasn't physically able feel the ball coming towards him before.

Once the shock tied down, a new question came to the forefront of my mind. Why was a soccer ball heading right for Peter's fa-

My eyes instantly narrowed into a glare as my eyes traced the ball back to its source.

A few meters away from where we were sitting, Flash was standing next to a stack of soccer balls with his hand outstretched and judging by his gaping expression, he hadn't expected me to catch the ball before it could hit Peter. Neither did I for that matter but that was beside the point.

The point is that I have had it with this guy's constant torment of my best friend and it was high time I did something about that.

Part of me knew that this could spell disaster for both Peter and I in the long run, but the rest of me was too furious to actually care about that and was fully intent on making Flash suffer, consequences be damned.

"Don't look so surprised, Thompson. An old lady in her nineties could catch this ball with how weak that throw was." I sneered venomously. "In fact, I bet that old lady could throw harder than you did." Absently, I noted that Peter was looking at me with surprise in his eyes, but my eyes never left Flash.

Slowly his entire demeanor shifted from shock and surprise to cocky arrogance.

Perfect.

"Oh yeah? Well I'd like to see you do better." He challenged cockily.

He didn't have to ask me twice.

I stood up from my seat, threw the ball up and in one fluid motion did a swift twist in the air before kicking the ball fiercely towards Flash.

I thought I would feel bad when the soccer ball connected with Flash's face with a resounding smack; causing him to topple over backwards and making his nose bleed from the sheer force of the hit.

I didn't.

Judging by the fact that coach Wilson was rushing to Flash's side though, it looks like I'll be due for a little visit to Principal Morita.

So much for making it up to my Mom by doing well in school.

.

Just as I thought, Coach Wilson sent me to the Principal's office, while he sent Flash to the school infirmary.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Principal Morita also called in my parents, but since Mom and Dad had work I thought that neither of them would be able attend because of their busy schedules, so of course Mom wasn't busy and showed up a few minutes after the call.

I'm starting to think that my best friend's infamous "Parker luck" was starting to rub off on me.

As soon as my Mom walked on in, I discovered a newfound fascination for the tiles on Principal Morita's office and stared at them for the entire meeting.

I still felt her stare boring into the side of my head, though. Was she furious? Was she disappointed? I didn't dare look up to find out.

The meeting went by as I expected, they asked me to retell the story from my point of view and then asked me a few questions. I told them that Flash was the one who threw the ball at Peter while I was talking to him and I just caught before it could hit him, before I retaliated.

Did I regret what I did?

Hell no! Not even in the slightest, but I still nodded my head when Principal Morita asked me that question. I might as well do damage control and pretend like a good little girl for Mom; salvage what little is left of my original plan to make it up to her.

A few minutes later and here I am now; in the most awkwardly silent car ride of my life.

That's to be expected, though, our last conversation didn't exactly pan out so well. Also because Mom had to focus on not crashing into other cars and I was too focused on not making eye contact by staring out the passenger window.

It was agonizing to say the least and I really couldn't stand it.

"I thought you had work today." I mumbled out, looking at Mom using the reflection on the rear-view mirror.

As if feeling my gaze, her eyes briefly met mine in the mirror, before looking back at the road. She looked worried.

"I did have work today, but I called in sick this morning" she said casually.

"Why would you do that?" I asked curiously.

"I just didn't want to take any chances after what happened on the field trip."

I hummed in acknowledgement.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mom sounded worried and concerned, not angry and disappointed like I expected.

I nodded my head, still looking out the passenger window.

"Are you sure?"

Again, I nodded.

"I didn't see you this morning." Mom said trying to sound casual, though I could hear an undertone of hurt in her voice and it made me flinch.

"I slept in, I was gonna be late for school." Not a lie, but not entirely the truth either.

"You know you could've stayed at home, you know? After what happened to you on that field trip, I'm sure your teachers would understand."

I highly doubt experiencing spider puberty would be something my teachers would understand, let alone expect.

I snorted at that. "Come on, Mom. You've been through high school before. You know as well as I do that there some teachers who won't accept excuses less dire than the end of the world by alien invasion and even then, only if the school is within a 50 mile radius"

Mom chuckled under her breath amusedly and I smiled at that.

"Okay, that's true, that's true." Mom conceded before continuing. "But still you should've stayed at home today. What if something happened again?"

Something did happen, just not the kind of something she was thinking of.

I shook my head. "I'm fine now, Mom."

"I find that a little hard to believe, seeing as that your fever didn't break until 3 o'clock in the morning." Mom retorted.

I looked at her for the first time and I could see hints of dark circles covered up by make-up under her eyes. Damn, she really did stay up late.

"Sorry" I mumbled as I looked away, feeling guilty.

Out of my peripherals I saw her shake her head. "Don't be sorry, Cindy. I was the one who forced you to go on that trip in the first place."

"It's not your fault."

"You wouldn't have been bitten by that spider, if you weren't on that trip" Mom pointed out.

"and you couldn't have possibly known that I would be bitten by that spider while on the trip." I said reassuringly, even though a small part of me did want to agree with her. Probably the stubborn and angsty teenage part.

Silence ensued and I was in no hurry to break it. In fact, I would've preferred that we stayed like this for the rest of the trip home.

Mom had other ideas.

"Does your little accident during the field trip have anything to do with the incident in gym class?"

Ah, so we finally decide to talk about the elephant in the room...or car in this case.

"You could say that" I hedged.

Mom let out a sigh and I immediately tensed. I could feel my hackles rising. The calm was over, now here comes the storm.

"You know you broke that boy's nose, right?" Mom pointed out.

"Is that all?" I asked sarcastically, before waving my hand dismissively. "That's nothing to cry about."

"Cindy!"

"What do you want me to say?" I retorted as I met her scolding gaze. "That I'm sorry? I'm not sorry! Flash has had that broken nose coming since middle school! If you ask me he got off easy."

"You could've seriously hurt him!" Mom retorted.

I scoffed. "The guy bullies my best friend, Peter, for years and years and you didn't so much as bat an eye, but when I finally decide enough is enough you suddenly lose your mind?"

Mom sighed exasperatedly. "Cindy-"

"No, Mom, are you seriously taking Flash's side in all this?!" I asked disbelievingly.

"I'm not taking anyone's side." Mom insisted.

"Well, it sure sounds like you are because you're insinuating that I'm in the wrong." I grumbled.

"And you're not?" Mom challenged and I gaped at her.

Was she seriously asking me that?!

"That soccer ball wouldn't have even been in my hand in the first place if that jerk hadn't kicked it at Peter" I snapped angrily.

"You still kicked it at him, though. Now he's the one with the broken nose and you're the one in trouble with the principal." Mom pointed out.

"I shouldn't have even been in trouble with the principal in the first place!" I retorted angrily. "I bet that if I hadn't caught that ball and Peter was the one with a broken nose, Flash would come out smelling like a rose."

Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Cindy, you're missing the point"

"There was a point?" I asked sarcastically. "I must've missed it through all the pro-flash propaganda."

Mom sighed again, she sounded exasperated as she turned her eyes back on the road and I looked out of the window.

Silence returned and I refused to be the one to break it. Partly because I didn't want to get involved in a car crash. Mostly because my teenage hormones still had me raring to argue with Mom.

"You say that Flash has been bullying Peter since middle school?" Mom eventually asked inquisitively, like she was building up to something.

I just nodded tensely, eyes never leaving the window.

"and has he ever retaliated once or asked you to retaliate on his behalf?"

My hands clenched into fists and I shook my head.

"Why do think that is?" Mom was careful to keep her tone curious and not confrontational.

"Because he's a noble idiot with a white knight complex who prefers to suffer in silence, smile at the pain and sacrifice himself for the greater good." I replied bitterly.

"Why do you think he's okay with that?" Mom asked patiently.

"Because he's a selfless idiot with no sense of self-preservation" came my petulant reply.

I could've sworn Mom was chuckling under her breath, but instead of turning and gaping at her I huffed and crossed my arms stubbornly.

"Are you sure that's the reason?" Mom asked patiently.

I wanted to say yes, that Peter was an idiot with no ounce of self preservation, a martyr, nothing more nothing less, but then I began to think, really think about all the times he could've stood up for himself but didn't and why he would do such a thing.

"It's because the only person he could stand to see get hurt or humiliated is himself."

Mom nodded in satisfaction at my answer before she spoke again. "I may not know Peter as well as you do, but I know him well enough to know that his guilt is probably gnawing at him right now, thinking about how you're being punished because you decided to defend him."

She had a point, but she wasn't entirely right.

"So you're saying that I should have let my best friend get hit by that ball and have his nose broken, when I could do something to stop it?"

"I'm saying that you should think about the consequences of your actions before you do them because said actions may be more trouble than they're worth and that you aren't the only one that can be affected by it"

Tired of all this heavy talk, I decided to crack a joke.

"Did you read that in a fortune cookie?" I teased good-naturedly.

Mom looked sheepish, before she tried (and failed) to regain her stern expression.

"That is neither the point nor does it make it any less true" Mom retorted. "Honestly, you're lucky Principal Morita decided to let you off the hook for your stunt today. Honestly, if he hadn't known about that boy's incessant bullying and let you off the hook, the kind of stain this would leave on your permanent record would-"

Aaaaand, that's my cue to roll my eyes and tune out the rest of the conversation.

As much as I loved my mother, I really wasn't in the mood to have my educational life planned out for me and have it dictated with excruciating detail.

My mother and I may not see eye to eye on the best of days and are snarling at each other on the worst of days, she is still part of my family and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Being a teenager was definitely complicated.

Then again, what else is new?

.

.

 **A/N: Did any of you see the little cameo I inserted here? I bet a lot of you did. In my opinion a marvel fanfic is not complete without a Stan Lee cameo, just as a marvel movie will never be the same without a Stan Lee cameo. Rest in Peace, Stan Lee and may your legacy outlive us all.**

 **Now, I know that this feels a little slow on the build-up, but one thing I've learned through all the stories I've written is that a rushed story is a bad story. Also, I wanted to elaborate on the relationships Cindy has with her mother and her childhood friend, but don't worry we'll see a bit more plot progression in the next chapter.**

 **Also, if you want a clear visual for Cindy Moon just look up a picture of Tiffany Espensen from Spider-man Homecoming and as for Nari Moon just look up a picture of Susan Chuang.**

 **Okay, so that concludes Chapter 2 of my story. What did you guys think? Feel free to drop a review and maybe favorite and follow my little story.**

 **Farewell for now – K.I. Hernandez**


	3. Second Bitten Part 3

**Whoa, has it already been a month since I last updated this story. Sorry for the long wait, everyone, but the truth is that I actually finished a rough draft of this story on the first week of January, but I never posted it because it didn't portray Cindy in the way that I wanted to. So, I had to edit most of what I've already written and that's what took me so long, but here we are now.**

 **At any rate, some of you might be wondering why this story is taking so long. We're already three chapters in and the time elapsed in the story amounts to less than three days. The reason for this is because I want to endear Cindy Moon to mainstream readers who have most likely never heard of or don't care about the character as much as I do. Remember guys, Cindy is Marvel's underrated spider, so much so that she needs more popular characters to carry her name in a comic book, like spider-woman, spider-gwen or spider-man in the Spider-women 2016 crossover event and The spiderfly effect comic.**

 **That being said, here we are now, so enjoy the show.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 3: Second Bitten Part 3**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I. Hernandez**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

"Cindy, maybe you should take the next two days off school"

I froze mid-step at the words and my eyes narrowed as I turned around to look back at my Mom, who was still seated in the driver's seat of the car, her expression etched in soft concern. That wasn't what caught my attention, though, it was the thinly veiled punishment in her words. A punishment that I did not deserve.

I open my mouth to protest, but my mother immediately held her hands up placatingly.

"I'm not trying to ground you, Cindy and this isn't a punishment" Mom said reassuringly.

I snorted disbelievingly.

"Really, Cindy, I'm not trying to punish you." Mom insisted, before continuing. "This is just for my own piece of mind. You shouldn't have even gone to school today because of how sick you were last night, just take the rest of the week off so you can recover, missing two days of school won't ruin your GPA."

I narrow my eyes at that because Mom is usually all over my case when it comes to school and now she was letting me skip out on school for two days and after the permanent record worthy stunt that I had just pulled at gym, to boot? Yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all.

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my mother?" I deadpanned.

Mom sighed and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "If I had to choose between your education and your health, Cindy, I would choose your well-being every time." Mom said tartly.

I just shook my head and shrugged, exasperated at the unnecessary concern. "I already told you I was fine this morning Mom, but if you want to give me a four day weekend then I'm not gonna complain"

She sighed again. "Just try and use that time to actually rest, okay?"

I nodded. "Lazing around all day in my bed doing nothing? Yeah, I think I can manage that."

Mom returned my nod "That's good." Her expression suddenly turned concerned as she continued to eye me uncertainly.

The longer her gaze is trained on me the more I fidget uncomfortably. Seriously, why was she staring at me like that? "What is it?" I asked cautiously.

Mom seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before she bit the bullet. "I have to pick up a few groceries from the store" Mom started carefully, before she glanced at the time on her watch. "And I'm gonna pick up junior from his play date while I'm out."

"Okay?" I drawled out, not knowing what else to say and not knowing where she was going with this.

She just kept eying me for a few seconds before she speaks up. "Are you sure you'll be alright being alone in the house for a couple hours?"

Oh for the love of-Seriously? That's what she's worried about? I'm Fifteen not Five!

"Gee, Mom, I don't know about that. Are you sure I won't accidentally burn our entire house down in the first ten minutes of being left alone." I deadpanned as I crossed my arms.

Mom sighed exasperatedly again. "Cindy, I'm being serious here."

What? And I wasn't? "So am I, Mom. I'm already fifteen years old and you're treating me like a kid who can't be left alone inside the house without burning it to the ground." I countered tartly.

"I know that, Cindy!" Mom insisted exasperatedly. "That's not what I'm worried about! What I am worried about is that you might experience another episode or break out into a sudden fever or god knows what else because of that spider bite and that you won't have any of us to help you"

"..." Okay yeah, that did make much more sense. I probably shouldn't have let my teenage hormones get the better of me.

I looked away, unable to look at Mom in the eye, but kept my arms folded as I replied. "I'm fine, Mom and I know that this will be hard to believe, but you don't have to be worried about any of that."

Technically not a lie, since what she should be worried about is me possibly growing extra limbs and extra eyes, as well as, me developing cravings for insects and flies, but she didn't have to know that.

"I'm pretty sure that the worse has passed now, Mom, and I'm sure I won't suddenly break into another spontaneous fever and even if I did, I can take care of it myself."

"I know you can, Cindy, but just because you can, doesn't mean that you should have to" Mom said gently. "I'm just trying to look out for you."

When Mom pulls a complete 180 like this on me, it kinda makes it impossible to stay mad at her. Honestly, it was almost too easy for her to defuse my foul mood with just a change in character.

"I know, Mom and I appreciate it, really I do, even if it feels like I don't." I said quietly.

I could almost hear the smile in her voice when she said. "I know you do, Cindy."

Okay, this was really getting uncomfortable and I am not used to these kinds of talks with my Mom. I've gotta end this fast.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I'm just gonna go inside now" I pointed over my shoulder towards our house, slowly backing away as I did. "So that I could...you know...get some rest and all that...probably take a shower, too, so I should...uh..."

I heard Mom giggle amusedly and I could feel my cheeks burn bright red. "You do that, then."

"Yeah, I'll just-" I cut myself short as I turned on my heels and ran inside the house, closing the door behind me, before I slid down to the floor with my back against the door while I buried my face with my hands.

Well, that was mortifying and eidetic memory wasn't much help either. Why was it so much easier to talk with my Mom when an argument is involved in one way or another?

I stayed put in my place against the door until I couldn't hear Mom's car engine in the distance and once it did, I got up and went straight to my room on the second floor of our house.

With how big our house is, I have an entire bedroom all to myself, which is something that I'm grateful to have since I would need some time alone to figure out exactly how much that spider bite had changed me. I'm pretty sure that the changes aren't going to stop at a hotter body and occasional migraines and whatever these changes were, I'll need some privacy to deal with them. I don't exactly want my parents or my little brother to find out that their daughter/big sister is turning into a spider human hybrid.

Once I reached my bedroom, I went inside, locked the door behind me, threw my shoulder bag on the bed and quickly followed suit.

My room was pretty simple, a bed on the right side of the room, a side table next to it, a closet next to the main door, the personal bathroom opposite the bed, and a desk with a chair on the far left corner of the room next to the only window.

Unlike most girls my age, I didn't bother with decorating. Partly because I do not want to see faces of celebrities or the color pink wherever I looked (though I wouldn't mind if there were pokemon), mainly because I didn't have the time; between school, gymnastics, decathlon and soccer, I barely had time to actually sit down and think about the interior design of my bedroom, much less actually decorate.

Even now when I have four days worth of free time because of my little spider bite incident, decorating is the furthest thing from my mind.

One step at a time though.

First things first, I need a shower, I need food, and I need my bed. Finding out what other surprises that spider bite has in store for me can come later when my mind isn't teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown and my body is in no danger of hyperventilating

Standing up from my bed, I walked over to my closet, picked out some comfortable clothes, a white tank top and black leggings, and placed them on the bed, before grabbing a towel and heading for the bathroom.

A nice hot shower. That was the first thing on my list of things I'd want to get over with before having to deal with the spidery repercussions of my little bite, followed by some lunch and a nap.

So, of course, fate decides to throw a monkey wrench in my plans.

As soon as I walked in the bathroom, I locked the door behind me and tried to hang up my towel on the hook.

Key word: tried.

For some reason, the towel was sticking to my hand and was not letting go. Three guesses as to what could've caused this.

Staring nervously at the offending white cloth, I tried flicking my hand to try and dislodge it to no avail. Spying the hook mounted on the back of the bathroom door, I suddenly got an idea. Carefully, I tied one end of the towel around the hook, before taking a few steps back until it went taut.

Holding my towel-attached palm out, I muttered "Here goes nothing."

I pulled, grunting at the effort but, the towel was not giving up. I pulled harder as I heaved my body backwards.

In hindsight, this probably wasn't such a good idea. I'm not exactly up to date on how strong a spider's ability to cling to stuff is, but I'm betting it's pretty impressive if they keep showing the creepy crawlies on animal planet. So, if my clinging ability is proportional to that of a real spider's, then-

 _SNAP!_

"YAH!" I yelped as the grip suddenly went slack, sending me careening backwards. Out of pure instinct (and hours of gymnastics practice), I let the momentum carry me, my left hand suddenly shot out and planted itself on the floor before I pushed off the tiles and landed in a crouch.

It all happened so fast that I barely remembered moving at all. It was like my mind had switched off and my body carried out the movement out of instinct. Even with my gymnastics training, I wouldn't have been able to pull that off before.

I felt really dazed as I let out a shaky breath and stood up from my crouch on equally shaky feet. I was really weirded out right now. Something like that didn't just happen without thinking or out of the blue. That manoeuvre would've taken weeks of practice to commit to muscle memory, maybe even months and even then, it wouldn't be as smooth as that.

Absently, I noted that the towel was still attached to my hand and that I had just ripped towel hook clean off the door. For a moment, I just stared at the hole on the door, trying not to panic.

I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down and to slow my heart rate.

"Okay, Cindy, just calm down. You can fix this. There's no need to panic" I reassured myself, before the towel suddenly dropped from my fingers. I barely gave it a second glance as I started stripping down because I really needed that shower right now. If anything it would help soothe my nerves. Thankfully, none of the clothes stuck to my palms this time.

Still trying to keep my breathing even, I stepped inside the shower and grabbed the dial to turn the shower on.

 _ **CRUNCH!**_

My eyes shot wide open at the sound of metal being crushed. That was not good.

I gulped down the mountain in my throat and slowly let my eyes drop down to the shower dial.

Or what used to be a shower dial at least. All that's left was this mangled and crumbled metal ball inside my clenched fist. Geez, talk about not knowing your own strength.

Ever so gently, I started easing up on my grip and carefully retracted my hand...or at least I tried, but my sticky hands chose that moment to screw me over yet again by sticking to the mangled piece of metal.

Not a second later, the shower pipe burst, spraying water all over my face. My feet suddenly slipped from under me and I ended up flailing backwards. Not wanting to fall and hit my head my arms lashed out to find something to grab onto.

It worked. I managed to stop myself from falling any further.

I exhaled a sigh of relief, only to gasp back in when I looked up.

The fingers of my right hand were embedded deep into the shower wall, buried up to where my fingers connected to my palm.

The ripped out towel hook from the door frame is minor and still fixable.

The mangled shower knob and the burst water pipe are more pressing, but still fixable and more importantly explainable.

But five finger holes on the shower wall? Yeah...that is gonna be a lot harder to fix, not to mention impossible to explain.

I shot up in a panic, ignoring the burst water pipe and the pooling water at my feet. My eyes were only fixed on where my fingers were buried into the wall.

Gingerly, I pried my fingers out, wincing at the chips of tile and plaster that fell out of the holes and the small dust clouds that appeared.

It took me a while, but when I finally did manage to pull my fingers out the wall, I was met with yet another shock.

I had claws. Not fingers. Claws.

My heart was racing and my chest was starting to tighten uncomfortably. It was also getting really hard to get air into my lungs.

Was I hyperventilating? I was probably hyperventilating.

I can't help it though. This afternoon, alone has been nothing but one shock after the other. First the sticky fingers, then the enhanced matrix-level reflexes, then the super strength and now the ability to make claw protrusions sprout from my fingers?

Instinctively, I turned to look at my other hand to see if it sprouted claws, too.

It didn't. My left hand didn't have any claws.

Instead, shooting out of my fingertips and sticking to the bathroom door were tranluscent white strands of what could only be spider webbing.

Seeing the strands of webbing, I couldn't stop myself from gaping in shock and I instantly recoil at the sight, my left hand jerking away from the door.

The webline went taut for a second before suddenly going slack.

There was the tell-tale sound of something heavy crashing on the floor with a loud bang that made me jump.

Numbly, I raised my eyes up from the slack webline to the source of the noise.

My bathroom door was now on the floor. I just ripped it clean off its hinges. The webline was still firmly attached, no sign of tears or rips.

Ever so slowly, I slid down to my knees and my back leaned against the wall. The water from the burst shower pipe was still pelting me with water, but I hardly noticed. I felt numb.

I was not mentally ready to deal with this mess. At first, I thought that I was, but I'm not. Sure, I may have theorized that something like this would happen, even joked about this stuff to Peter, but expecting this to happen and actually seeing it happen are two very different things.

One thing's for sure: I am nowhere near ready to deal with this. Not alone, at least.

And there was only one other person who could possibly understand what I'm going through right now.

Shakily, I picked myself up off the shower floor and made my way back to my bedroom. I was still naked, but I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment. I just need to feel like I'm not all alone in this.

It took me a while to find my phone and even longer to actually use it with a clawed/webbed fingers, but when I finally managed it, I saw that I had several unread messages and several missed calls. Dread creeped up on me when I saw that they were all from Peter.

Oh my god, was he going through this stuff right now, too? Is that why he was trying so hard to contact me? Was he freaking out like I was?

I didn't waste another second and immediately dialed his number. I sat on the bed, as I waited for him to pick up, anxiety creeping down my spine.

It rang once. Then twice. Three times.

"Come on, Pete. Answer the phone." I muttered anxiously. I really needed my friend right now, sure, but I also needed to know if he is okay.

The phone rang two more times and just when I thought that I was going to get the voicemail, he answered.

"Cindy-"

"Peter, oh my god, are you okay? What happened? Did something happen to you, too?" I blurted out urgently in one breath.

Peter stuttered over the line after I railroaded whatever he was going to say, but I couldn't tell if it was because he was caught off guard that I knew or if he was trying to understand what I had just said.

"I'm...uh...I'm fine, Cindy. Wait, why are you asking me this? I'm the one who's supposed to ask you that. Coach Wilson took you out of class are you-" Peter sounded really worried.

I honestly couldn't believe he was worrying about this of all things.

"Peter, I couldn't care less about what happened in gym class right now and flash thompson's injury for that matter and that's the last thing you should be worrying about." I said shrilly, panic was lacing into my voice, but I didn't care so long as it got my point across.

It did, because when Peter spoke again, he sounded like he was on the verge of having a panic attack himself. "Cindy, what's going on? Are you okay?"

 _No, I am not okay! I am the furthest thing from okay right now and I am getting further from it with each passing second._ I thought to myself as I looked down at my hands, one still clawed and the other still attached to webs.

"Not really, no."

"Does it have something to do with-"

"Peter!" I cut in before he could continue, not wanting t discuss this over the phone. You never knew who might be listening in on this conversation.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my racing heart.

It didn't work, so I just started talking, despite the shakiness. "Look, I can't talk about this over the phone, okay? Can you come over to my place?"

Please say yes, Please say yes, Please say yes.

"No problem, when should I come over?"

Now. Right now. "As soon as you can."

"I'll be there in ten minutes." I heard him promise before he hung up.

I shouldn't feel alone anymore. Peter will be here in a few minutes. I'm not alone in this. I have my best friend with me. I have Peter and he always understands.

Still...Where do I go from this? What do I do now?

I shivered as a sudden chill hit me and I looked down at my still naked body.

Putting some clothes on would probably be a good start.

.

 _Peter Parker_

.

 _...A few minutes earlier..._

 _._

"Everything alright, Pete?"

I looked up at Uncle Ben, who was standing by the car. He looked really worried.

I wanted to tell him that there was nothing to worry about, but the words died at the tip of my tongue, as I looked down at my phone. Cindy still hadn't replied to any of my texts or returned any of my calls.

As soon as gym class was over, I had rushed all the way to principal Morita's office. I had actually been hoping to catch Cindy and her parents before they left, so that I could explain to them that it wasn't Cindy's fault and that any punishment they had for her should be given to me because I was the one she defended.

Cindy and her parents were already gone by the time I got there, Principal Morita had raised an eyebrow at me questioningly and I tried to explain that it was my fault and that Cindy shouldn't be punished for what happened in gym.

The principal had waved a hand at me dismissively and reassured me that he just let Cindy off with a warning and that he did not issue any punishment.

Was Principal Morita lying when he said that? Did he just say that so that I wouldn't be able to take the fall for Cindy? Had he expected me to do something like that?

Then again, just because Principal Morita didn't punish her, doesn't mean her parents won't. Did they take her phone? Is that why she's not responding? Or is she being punished in another way and is too mad to hear anything I have to say?

My heart ached at that thought.

"Are you worried about Cindy?"

I couldn't help but gape at my uncle, who was giving a knowing look of understanding.

"How did you know it was...?" I trailed off, still caught off guard.

Uncle Ben just shrugged. "May and I practically raised you, Pete. You and Cindy were practically joined at the hip since the day you met and whenever you were worried about her, you get a very specific expression on your face."

I wanted to snort derisively at that. I did not have a specific facial expression like that...did I?

"Yes, you do." Uncle Ben said as if sensing my thoughts, before continuing. "So, what has you worrying about her so much?"

I tell him everything that happened at the gym, censoring parts that he didn't need to know, like the spider bite induced second puberty for one.

Uncle Ben just nodded along the entire time as I retold the story and once I was finished he had this soft smile of knowing and understanding. I knew that look. It was the same look he has when he was about to say something profound.

"Pete, I don't think Cindy is mad at you."

It was really amazing how Uncle Ben always seemed to hear what I'm not telling him because the truth is, I really was worried that Cindy was mad at me. After all, she had been trying to get her grades up to make it up to her Mom and I just got her sent to the Principal's office a few hours ago.

Okay, so maybe Flash had it coming and maybe I did feel vindictive when I saw him finally get his comeuppence, but Cindy was already having trouble keeping her grades up and doing her hobbies; she always had these carefully laid plans that make things work. If anything, I just threw a wrench into her carefully-laid plans after gym class and she had ample reason to be mad at me. That would explain all the unanswered texts and unreturned calls.

"How can you be so sure about that?" I asked, sounding small.

"Because I know how much she cares about you, Pete. I also know how protective she can be when it comes to the people she cares about. You know that, too, don't you?"

Of course, I did. I've seen the fierce glares he's been sending Flash's way since middle school and how she practically mothers her baby brother.

"Now knowing all that, do you really think she would've let that ball hit you in the face when she could've done something to stop it?"

No, she wouldn't. She barely put up with flash before she was bitten by that spider.

But still...

"If she isn't mad, then why isn't she texting me back or returning my calls?"

Uncle Ben smiled. "That's simple; in her eyes she didn't do anything wrong by protecting you, but I'm betting you've been texting her apologies non-stop or calling to make amends."

My silence is all the answer he needs to know that he was right.

"That's not what she wants to hear, Pete." Uncle Ben said with a shake of his head. "You need to show her that you appreciate what she did for you today"

I slowly nodded as I considered the words. "Yeah, that makes sense."

As if on cue, my phone started ringing and when I checked to see who it was I saw Cindy's caller ID.

"There's your chance now" Uncle Ben said as he gestured to my phone. "Are you gonna take it?"

I really wanted to answer the phone, but all I could manage to do was stare at it while my mind raced with things I could say.

Should I make a quip? No, that would be in poor taste. I could apologize first and then thank her later, but Uncle Ben just told me that she didn't want an apology...um...maybe I could ask her how she is and what I can do to make it up to her? No, that would make her feel like she did something wrong and she didn't want that. I could apologize for all the texts I sent and then tell her that I appreciate what she did for me today at school. Would that work though? Will she hang up the moment I start apologizing? What will we talk about after that?

"Pete?" I looked up at Uncle Ben, who was smiling amusedly. "Maybe you should answer the phone, before it goes into voicemail?"

Yeah, I probably should. Why am I even feeling nervous about this? It's not like this is the first time we've talked over the phone.

With shaking fingers, I answered the call. It wasn't until the phone was pressed against my ear that I realized I still didn't know what to say.

"Cindy-" was all I managed to get out, before Cindy's voice sounded on the other end.

"Peter, oh my god, are you okay? What happened? Did something happen to you, too?"

My mouth opened and closed for a moment as I tried to think of how to respond. I wasn't expecting her to sound this scared and panicked. Angry, sure, disdainful, maybe, but not panicked.

"I'm...uh...I'm fine, Cindy." Today's earlier events suddenly came to mind, as did my earlier worries.

"Wait, why are you asking _me_ this? I'm the one who should be asking you that. Coach Wilson took you out of class are you-" I asked worriedly.

"Peter, I couldn't care less about what happened in gym class right now and flash thompson's injury for that matter and that's the last thing you should be worrying about."

I have never heard my best friend sound so shrill before and dread began creeping up my spine. What's going on? Why is she so panicked?

I tried to keep calm, but I was starting to panic, too. "Cindy, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"Not really, no." came her panicked response.

A thought suddenly occured to me and I asked: "Does it have something to do with-"

"Peter!" She interrupted and I clamped my mouth shut.

For a few moments, the only sound I could hear one the other was of her taking deep breaths. She was probably trying to calm herself down, so I stayed silent despite my own panic gnawing at me as the silence dragged on.

When Cindy spoke again, she sounded calmer. "Look, I can't talk about this over the phone, okay? Can you come over to my place?"

"No problem, when should I come over?" I reply instantly. Whatever's going on her must be serious and I'm the only other person who can understand it.

"As soon as you can."

I bit my lip and looked at Uncle Ben, wondering if he could give me a ride.

Again, as if sensing my thoughts, he gave me a nod, opened the car door, and got in the driver's seat.

"I'll be there in ten minutes." I replied before hanging up and getting in the car.

I just hope traffic isn't too bad. Cindy sounded like she was going through a tough time.

.

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

Three knocks sounded from my door, followed by a familiar voice calling out from the other side.

"Cindy? Are you in there?"

He was early. It's only been 5 minutes since my call. What did he do, run all the way to my house? I probably shouldn't have sounded so panicked or desperate over the phone. He must be winded from running all the way over here.

I gulped down the guilt building up in my throat. He was here now and I really needed my best friend, I'll make it up to him later.

If he doesn't run for the hills after he sees the mess I made, that is.

"Cindy?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and called out shakily. "Yeah, Pete, I'm here. You can come in" I paused for a moment before I added. "Just try not to freak out too much, okay?"

"Okay, I promise." He called out reassuringly.

I was having trouble breathing and my heart was hammering so hard that it actually ached in my chest. I tried to calm down, but that was easier said than done at the moment and it only became harder when the door slowly creaked open and Peter stepped through the doorway.

He managed to take one step into my bedroom, before he froze in shock, eyes so wide they might fall out of their sockets and jaw so wide open he might start catching flies.

I can't really blame him, though because I was still in shock myself and no matter what fantasies his mind had conjured up during his run to my house, seeing his long-time best friend sitting on her bed with one hand having claws and another having weblines shooting out of her fingers and attaching to a dislodged door was not among them.

Then again, this was Peter, so maybe it was and he's just shocked at actually seeing it with his own eyes. I know I was.

As much as I sympathize with him, I really couldn't stand this uncomfortable silence and I did not call my best friend here so that he could gape at me like I'm a freak...even though that's what I felt like right now.

I couldn't bring myself to dare break the ice, though. I waited with baited breath for the other shoe to fall and as much as I wanted to believe that my best friend wouldn't abandon me because of something like this, there was still this gnawing sense of doubt and uncertainty in my gut that said otherwise; that he was going to shout out that I was a freak before telling me to get away from him and high-tailing it out of the house.

My eyes started to sting at the thought, but I force myself to hold them in.

His stare kept alternating between my face, my clawed hand, my webbed hand and the door it was attached to. It took him a long time to get his bearings, but when his body language showed that he was about to respond, I leaned away from him slightly, closed my eyes and prepared for the worst.

"That is Awesome!"

Wait, what?!

My eyes shot open and I stared at him incredulously. He had this wide-eyed giddy grin om as he crossed the room and examined the web cable in his hands, looking at it closely and pulling at it every now and again.

Me? I just kept staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Did he just say that this awesome? Did he really just say that?

"Oh my god the tensile strength is off the charts! You could probably lift a cat with this stuff and it wouldn't even so much as rip." Peter exclaimed as he tried (and failed) to pull the cable apart.

He turned to me with what I dubbed as his 'science face' and started rattling off questions. "Is this stuff coming out of your fingers? How does that work? Do you have glands in your forearms? Do you think I'll be able to do this, too?"

Come on, Cindy, say something. This is good, he's not freaking out...not in a bad way, at least.

It took a few tries, but I finally managed a response. "I-I'm not really sure, Pete. They...uh...they just sort of shot out of my fingers. I don't really want to think too much into it, though."

"Whyyyy?" I snorted a laugh at my best friend's whiny tone.

"Because if I think about it too much, you'll probably realize just how nasty and disturbing that fact really is" I said honestly, before I winced at my words.

Peter just made a small conceding gesture with his head, though, before saying. "Fair enough." His eyes then trailed down to my other hand and I knew that he really wanted to get a closer look at my claws.

Wordlessly, I held up my other hand and he sat with me on my bed before taking my clawed hand in both of his.

His hands were gentle and soft as he carressed my hand and took a closer look at the claws at the ends of my fingers. "That is so cool, they're like claw protrusions that come directly out of the skin, it's like they're part of your finger's bone structure"

As disturbing as that mental image was, Peter's gentle carresses gave me a great sense of relief. His mere presence alone was like a soothing balm that swept away all my earlier insecurities and worries.

The fact that he was here still with me and is not freaking out in the way that I was afraid made me feel like I'm not so alone in this...development. That whatever happens, I'll still have my best friend by my side.

Times like these really made me appreciate the fact that Peter Parker was my best friend.

.

 **Okay, so that's the end of chapter three, guys. Feel free to leave a comment below and possibly follow or favorite my little story. I wanted to add a bit more to this chapter, but I decided to cut some of the scenes because they ultimately didn't contribute that much to the story, made the chapter unnecessarily longer, and I felt like I already got my point across in this chapter.**

 **Maybe, I'll do spin-off consisting of all my outtakes, what do you guys think?**

 **Farewell for now – K.I. Hernandez**


	4. Second Bitten Part 4

**Okay, so this is the last part of the Second Bitten Arc of this story. That is to say, I am done laying out the general background of this version of Cindy Moon's character, as well as, her relationships with her friends and family and her basic personality. So, this means that we'll get some actual plot progression next chapter, yay!**

 **Also, I'm gonna be breaking one of the rules in story telling in this chapter, which is to "show, don't tell". In my defense, it looked better this way and felt more natural to read, not to mention some of those scenes just served to emphasize a point that's already a given for Cindy Moon; she cannot control her spider powers and struggles with living with them, at least in the beginning.**

 **Also, we have a surprise character showing up at the end of the chapter. Just a warning, though, said scene may be on the steamy side and will really stretch this story's T rating to the limit. On the other hand, it is also an important plotline in my story and will demonstrate Cindy's complicated relationship with certain characters in the comics. So read with discretion.**

 **That being said, enjoy the show!**

.

 **.**

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 4: Second Bitten Part 4**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I. Hernandez**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

Peter had spent the rest of the afternoon quizzing me on what else I could do and asking for live demonstrations of said abilities. Needless to say, Peter had been more excited than a kid locked inside Disneyland overnight. I didn't mind, though. If anything, his excitement and acceptance just drove away any lingering worries I had that I might lose my best friend over this spider-puberty.

Once the demonstrations were over, he had tested himself out to see if he could do the things that I could do. He seemed pretty disappointed that he could neither sprout out claw protrusions like some sort of spider panther nor spin webs like a regular spider, but he was able to stick to things and did seem to have the same enhanced attributes as I did, like strength and reflexes (even though the latter wasn't as good as mine) which made him feel better about the fact that he couldn't sprout claws or spin webs

All that aside, I couldn't help but feel envy for my long-time childhood friend; he was under the impression that I 'won the lottery for spider powers', but if you asked me, he was the lucky one for being more normal and less spider-like than I was. After all, people tend to alienate and shun if not outright ostracize whatever they view is different and doesn't fall under the status quo. Humans barely tolerate each other because of something trivial like different skin colors and facial features; I highly doubt they'll be all that accommodating to a teenage girl who was more spider than she was human.

That was neither here nor there, though. Envious thoughts aside, by the time Peter had to leave because it was getting dark outside and his uncle Ben will be picking him up soon, I was in a spectacularly better mood than I was all day and was no longer in danger of suffering from a nervous breakdown.

Before he left though, he had looked back at me through the window of his uncle's car and gave me a look that sent a very clear message:

 _Everything will be okay, Cindy._

I had my doubts about that, but they were all but brushed aside in favor of the giddy happy mood I was in because of my best friend's overall acceptance of my developing powers.

When I went to sleep that night, I felt as if I was on cloud 9, like all my worries and fears have disappeared and would never bother me again. Even if I was now spider-powered or part spider, my life will not change anymore than it already has and everything will go back to normal tomorrow morning.

When I woke up the following morning, those hopes for things to go back to normal were instantly destroyed because every inch of my room was covered in my spider webs, so much so that it looked like a swarm of giant spiders had made this place their home.

For a long moment, I just stared in wide-eyed shock at my surroundings, hoping and praying that all of it was just a dream or that I was hallucinating because of the spider-bite. When the image did not falter, I knew that all of it was real.

I also knew that I was royally screwed if any of my family chose that moment to walk into my room.

Fortunately, it hadn't taken me too long to snap myself out of my shocked stupor and to immediately get to work on cleaning my mess up.

Unfortunately, cleaning said mess was easier said than done.

I thought that cleaning my scattered webbing would be no different than cleaning up stray spider webs and cobwebs in the house. As it turns out, my webbing's tensile strength exponentially stronger and was more adhesive than a regular spider's web.

The result, every time I tried to use a feather duster or broom to sweep away the webs, the webbing would stretch and stretch, but wouldn't break and when I eventually gave up the webs had a broom, feather duster and whatever else I could get my hands on stuck in it.

A bad situation just got infinitely worse. Thank you spider powers for making my job harder than it needs to be.

I was completely stumped. I had absolutely no idea what to do now because sweeping away the webs was my first and only choice in cleaning up my unintentional mess.

I spent the next few minutes thinking about other ways to clean up my mess and I was coming up blank, but then I thought back to my little spider-to-spider talk with Peter yesterday afternoon and one particular conversation stood out in my eidetic mind.

" _Can you eat your webs?" he had asked me as he held up some of my webbing._

 _I wrinkled my nose at him and stared at the white strands in disgust. "No, why would you even ask me that?"_

 _He shrugged nonchalantly. "Some spiders actually eat their webbing, so that it would stimulate their organs to make more webs. It's kind of like recycling."_

" _I thought recycling was about saving the environment, not about eating bodily fluids to make more bodily fluids" I asked dryly._

At the time, I wasn't really sure whether I could do it or not, but in my defence I didn't exactly find the webs appetizing and I did not feel the urge to eat them; that's why I said no.

The way I saw it, I had two options: one, leave the mess in my room as it is until my parents find it and risk getting kicked out of the house and disowned before I could explain anything.

Or two, suck it up, dig in, and hope that the webs are edible.

The choice was obvious.

With a resigned sigh, I pulled a few strands of webbing free from the mess in my room and stared at the white strands with great reluctance. I had intended to just shove the strands into my mouth and swallow without preamble. Get it over with as soon as possible.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to because, as if sensing my intentions, the webs started slowly disappearing into my fingertips, like dust being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

As disturbing as the sight and the implications were (and they really are disturbing if you think about it), I was just glad to have a way to clean up my mess without resorting to eating it.

So, I swept my fingers across the webs in the room and watched as my fingertips sucked in the webbing in seconds. The whole cleaning process went by smoothly and within minutes, my room was completely clean.

It's all been downhill after that point, though.

For the next 48 hours, I tried to spend my free time doing normal things inside my home, but each time I tried, my newly acquired spider powers kept getting in the way.

When I tried to get a snack from the fridge, I would rip the handle off the door. When I tried to do some homework for chemistry, all the papers would stick to my fingers like glue and when I tried pulling them off, I would just end up ripping them. When I tried to read a book, webbing would shoot out of my fingertips, covering the pages.

All in all, the two days that followed Peter's visit were two of the worst days of my life, So, when Saturday morning came and I woke up to a webbed up room, I'd say it's pretty understandable that...

.

"I've had it!" I snapped angrily as I stomped around my room, cleaning up the mess of webbing scattered around it for the third times this week.

Part of me knew that I should be quiet, so I don't wake up the rest of my family, but the rest of me just didn't care and was grasping at some sort of outlet for all my pent up frustrations.

I didn't bother with a shower because I know for a fact that in my mood, I'd probably break my entire bathroom in the process. I just threw on the closest clothes I could get my hands on (a white tank top, a black hoodie, jeans and black sneakers), grabbed my brown travel pack, and made my way downstairs with every intention of leaving the house as soon as possible, not even bothering to lessen my speed.

Right now, I was just focused on getting out of the house ASAP.

I was about to bolt down the staircase, one foot already raised to take the first step, when an all-too familiar voice stopped me.

"Where are you heading off to, so early in the morning?"

Ugh, was it really too much to ask for at least one thing to go my way this week? And of all the people who could've caught me leaving the house it had to be my mother? Seriously? I'm really starting to think that infamous "Parker luck" Pete's always raving about is real because I think it's rubbing off on me.

I suppressed a groan, but I couldn't quite wipe the frustrated scowl marring my face, so I avoided looking at directly at Mom. I did sneak a peek at her out of the corner of my left eye though.

She was standing in front of the door to the master's bedroom that she shared with Dad, her hair was dishevelled, she wore only a white bathrobe, her eyes were droopy, and she had a frown on her face. My mother had never really been a morning person and I just cut her beauty sleep short because of my frustrated outburst in my room.

The two moon women sharing the same space while both had a short fuse that was getting shorter with each passing second.

That never ended well, either for only one of us or both of us, seeing as that we've been at each other's necks since she discovered my eidetic memory when I was five.

"Well, Cindy?" I heard my Mom prompt as she crossed her arms.

I gritted my teeth as my frustration slowly began to bubble up inside me. I hated how condescending her tone sounded. I am gonna be a legal adult in 3 years time she can't talk down to me like this anymore.

I took a few deep breaths and once I was sure that I wasn't going to snap, I replied.

"I'm just going out to get some fresh air, Mom. My room was getting a little stuffy, since I've been stuck in there for the past two days."

Please just accept the excuse and let me leave.

"You should be resting"

Damn it.

 _Okay, just keep calm, Cindy. Mom just pointed something out matter-of-factly, that's nothing to blow a gasket over. You can handle this like the civilized young woman that you are._ I reasoned with myself as I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

"I know that, Mom" I conceded and I was about to continue, but Mom cut me off.

"Then why are you trying to sneak out of the house?"

"Okay, first off, that's an exaggeration and second off, I had just told you that it was getting stuffy in my room, which is why I wanted to get out of the house."

"If you're feeling well enough to leave the house, then you should feel well enough to catch up on all the lessons you missed out for these last two days of school"

"And whose fault is that, huh?" I finally sniped back as I turned to her with a heated glare that she returned. "I already told you in the car that I was fine, but you didn't listen, so what did I do?" I asked rhetorically.

"I listened and did as you asked like a good little girl and stayed home for the next two days, even though it practically drove me crazy to be stuffed in here for so long doing nothing, getting rest that wasn't necessary and now all of a sudden it's my fault that I missed two days of school?"

As angry as I was, I enough sense not to mention the fact that I _have_ been attempting to study for the last two days, but I was always thwarted by inconvenient spider powers.

My mother sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, it doesn't matter whose fault it is"

I snorted in disbelief.

Mom just continued and ignored me. "What matters is that you _have_ missed two days worth of lessons that you're going to have to catch up on, lessons that you would need to know, so that you'll be able to keep up with the rest in your class when you go back to school on Monday. You should use the next two days to study what you missed"

Great, just what I needed right now. Mom telling me what I need to do.

"What you think I should do and what I think I should do are two very different things"

"If you would use your gift wisely, then they wouldn't be so different"

"I didn't realize having an eidetic memory forfeits my right to live my life the way I want to"

"You're a teenager; you don't know what you want." And now we're back to being a condescending stick in the mud. "And if you would just stop being so immature about this you would know that the best thing for you to do is-"

"To do what? To spend the rest of my life being your little play thing, a puppet that you can order around and will do whatever you say without question or complaint?" I countered angrily as the pressure in my chest started to rise even more, so much so that it felt it was gonna burst any minute now. "I'm the one with a good memory and I'm gonna use that 'gift' in any way I damn well please"

"So, you basically want to squander your gift by spending the rest of your life wearing glorified swimsuits, being eye candy and performing tricks like some show-dog"

Okay, that one was low and did she seriously just call me a bitch _and_ a hooker.

"It's called gymnastics, Mom" I bit out through gritted teeth as I tried desperately not to lose my temper. "And it doesn't make strippers for strip clubs, it makes athletes that possess a plethora of different skills and conditions the human body to perform beyond its limits"

"It's a waste of you time, gift, effort and money is what it is"

Deep breaths, Cindy, deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth.

"Nari? Cindy? Why are you two shouting at each other so early in the morning? I could hear your voices through the door?" Dad walked out of the room, wearing his glasses and looking like sleep was still on the forefront of his mind.

"Simple, Albert, our daughter here thought that it would be a good idea to spend the entire weekend doing who knows what, instead of studying the last two days of lessons from school-"

"-That I missed because you kept insisting that I take time to rest, even though I didn't need it and I wasn't sneaking out. I just wanted to go and get some fresh air, since I've been trapped in this house for two whole hours."

With our pieces said, we resumed glaring at each other, while Dad heaved a big sigh and rubbed his face with both hands, muttering about how it was too early in the morning for this.

Whenever Mom and I got into these little disagreements of ours, Dad has always served as the voice of reason of sorts and as far as I could remember when he was there to mediate our fights, he always comes up with a compromise that both Mom and I could live with.

When he wasn't around to mediate our fights, however, Mom and I usually end up storming away from each other, both of use being too stubborn to come up with our own compromise.

Poor Dad, he had just got up out of bed and hasn't even had his morning coffee yet, but is now expected to come up with a diplomatic compromise.

I do not envy him one bit. Feel sorry for him? Yes. Envy him? Hell no!

Mom and I were still glaring at each other, when Dad finally spoke up.

"Nari, why don't you just let Cindy go outside for a bit"

HA! I win!

Mom immediately turned her heated glare on Dad and I let a victorious smirk spread across my face, feeling especially smug and vindictive right now.

Dad raised his hands defensively at Mom's glare. "Nari, studying won't do our daughter any good, if she isn't in the mood to do so, even if she has an eidetic memory."

Admittedly, I am a bit of a daddy's girl, but when you're mother is such a control freak who tries to dictate how you should spend every waking second of your life, it's kind of inevitable.

"So, why don't you just let her go outside and let her roam around a bit? Think of it like a warm up before an exercise. If she does this, then she could study a lot more efficiently and her brain will be more receptive to new information."

Have I mentioned how much I love my father? Because I do. I really love my daddy, especially right now.

I watched as Mom sighed and pinched her nose and I immediately turned back to the stairs with my chin held high, a victorious grin spreading across my face and a skip to my step. I was on cloud nine right now and it'll be awhile before I come back down.

These things have happened so much by now that I know for a fact that this is Mom's way of conceding to Dad and admitting def-

"Cindy, go to your room."

What?

My leg stood frozen in mid-air, still poised to take the next step down the stairs; the first step towards outside, fresh air and freedom. My body is frozen on the spot, those five words echoing around in my head like an endless echo.

 _Cindy, go to your room._

 _Cindy, go to your room._

 _Cindy, go to your room._

This wasn't supposed to happen. This is not how this scenario is supposed to play out. Mom is supposed to go back to her room tiredly and conceding defeat, while I made my merry way outside to calm myself down. Mom wasn't supposed to tell me to my room, she's supposed to concede to Dad; the fact that she didn't back down like she always did before left me more than a little numb.

I heard Dad sigh, but it sounded really distant, muffled and a bit fuzzy, too.

"Nari-"

"No, Albert, we've spoiled Cindy for long enough. It's time she starts thinking about her future by focusing on her education and intelligence, not tights and flips."

Spoiled? When have they ever spoiled me?! I had to pay for my gymnastics classes out of my own pocket, including whatever equipment I needed to get. It's true that they used to take me on trips to Seoul to visit my Aunt and cousins every summer, but those trips stopped when I was five years old and Mom discovered that I had an eidetic memory. After that, the money that was supposed to be spent on the trip to South Korea was spent on advanced classes and summer camps that specialized on gifted kids, two things that I resented. When have they ever spoiled me?!

And just like that, my body thawed from its frozen state of shock, replaced by emotions that I had come to expect whenever Mom and I had our disagreements. Fire raced through my veins, heating up my body like a furnace.

I could feel my breath quickening to rage-filled panting.

I could feel my hands tightening into fists that were ready to strike at the next thing that moves.

I could feel my body trembling with pressure like an overloaded boiler machine, ready to explode at a moment's notice.

Rage, Fury, Anger, and Outrage, I've become intimately acquainted with these emotions since I was five years old, the willingness to act on them even more so. Right now, my mind and body was primed and ready for a release, a way to vent out all this rage and fury in a way that teenagers like me can't seem to avoid.

But even in my rage-induced frame of mind, I knew that I couldn't do what I so desperately wanted at the moment, to vent. I had superpowers now, if I were to throw one of my teenage tantrums right now I could quite literally bring the house down, as well as, break every bone in my parents' bodies like toothpicks.

I didn't want that to happen. We may have our moments where we didn't see eye to eye, but they were still my family.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to calm down, another thing that I had gotten used to doing over the past decade.

But my body did not calm down, if anything I only felt the sensations escalate further and worsen. It was as if my body did not want to calm down. My body was primed for a fight, looking for an outlet for all the frustration and anger and now that it had reached this point, there was no going back.

I felt like my body and my conscious mind were now detached from each other, like one had little to no influence on the other.

I felt myself panic, this hasn't happened before, my anger had never been this intense and my enhanced abilities only made matters worse. I couldn't stop my rage from building up nor could I calm it down, so that only left one option: aim it away from my family.

I needed to get out.

So I did.

I sprinted down the stairs, taking them two at a time and ignored the calls of my name from upstairs. I sprinted across the room towards the main door and nearly tore it off its hinges when I flung it open, but I didn't stop nor did I look back to my house, I didn't know where I running to and I didn't particularly care at the moment, all that I cared about was that I got as far away my family as possible without leaving the state.

As I kept running, I slowly came to my senses. Granted, it was still not enough to calm down, just enough to aim the anger better. All this running was good for venting out anger apparently; not by much, but just enough for me to think straight.

That being said, I knew that I had to find a better outlet than running, specifically an outlet that required me to hit things.

Yes, hitting things was a definite must. I just needed to find some place where no one would mind if anything got destroyed...like a junkyard.

Destination in mind, I steered my body towards a very familiar direction, weaving myself through obstacles on the streets without pausing or slowing down. As fast as my legs were carrying me, it still wasn't fast enough. I needed to get to the junkyard before I snapped and let loose.

Spotting an alley ahead, I ran inside and as soon I was safe from prying eyes, I jumped as high as I could, clearing the three stories with ease before latching onto the side of the building with my hands and feet and crawled up the wall as fast as I could. I shot two weblines and flung myself up to the rooftop.

I barely paused when I landed just kept on sprinting until I reached the edge and leapt to the adjacent rooftop, clearing the gap with ease.

Adrenaline surged through my veins as I jumped from one rooftop to another with a mixed combination of my gymnastics training and some parkour moves I learned by watching videos on the internet.

One of the very few good things with having an eidetic memory: You can learn almost any skill just by watching it.

A few minutes into my adrenaline-fueled free run, I realized that I was gradually letting out some steam, though not enough to calm me down completely, so it was probably best to get to the junkyard as soon as possible because the last thing New York wanted was another enhanced individual going on a rage-induced rampage through the city.

After all, some people in high places still haven't forgiven the Hulk for what happened in Harlem, even after he saved the world a few years ago.

I did not want to find out what they would do if they ever labeled me as the next "Hulk".

.

Peter had always been a dumpster diver and with him having very little sense of self-preservation and even less sense of danger, I almost always came with him on his "excursions" just to make sure that he didn't get hurt. Say what you will about junkyards and dumpsters, but you really will find the most unexpected things in them and after I found a fully-functioning, semi-automatic rifle underneath one of the dumpsters, I had made sure that I always tagged along with him, wherever and whenever it was.

Having said that, my eidetic memory allowed me pick up a few details that have made said excursions go more smoothly. They were just minor detail, though, like where the exit was, so we didn't get lost or where we'll find the most loot.

More importantly, it helped me remember key details like the fact that the junkyard closed at five in the afternoon, so if we weren't out by then, we would be locked in.

Also, that the junkyard was only open on weekdays. Unfortunately, that little tidbit only occured to me when I was right in front of the locked wire fence gate with a sign that said "CLOSED" hanging at the center.

Normally, I would've just walked away from something like this.

Now though? I couldn't care less about a pair of closed gates that I could easily rip through like tissue paper because I needed to vent and I needed to vent now.

I thrusted my hands forward, fingers sliding between the gates. It barely tickled.

I gripped the edges and took a deep breath, before I pulled my hands back with all my strength. The gates swung open with a few squeaks, the flimsy chain and lock barely putting up a fight.

I giggled in relief.

That felt good.

It wasn't enough, though. I needed to vent some more.

I ran straight in, ignoring the putrid smell of rotting food, rusted metal, and filthy rats overehelming my sense. I opted to ignore all the useless piles of junk that surrounded me, they wouldn't be enough to vent my anger on.

There was only one section of this junkyard that could do the trick, the area where they demolished broken down cars.

It took almost no time at all for me to get there and as soon as the first car was in sight, I jumped as high as I could, closing the distance between me and the car with ease. I fired two weblines on either side of the car and with an almighty pull, sent myself rocketing towards the broken car feet first.

My feet crashed into the hood, flattening it with so much force that the trunk rose up, before falling back.

I let myself loose. I let myself feel the anger that I tried so hard to suppress earlier; anger at my mother being such a control, anger at these powers for making my life so hard for the past two days, outrage at being treated like a puppet on a string.

Fire coursed through my veins, heating up my body like a furnace, my heart pounded in my ears and my breathing came in furious pants, and my hands curled into tight fists as pressure began to build up in my chest painfully, and like a rubberband that's been stretched too far, I snapped.

"ARGH!" I shouted out as I brough both my hands down at the roof of the car, caving it in. I buried my fingers into the dented roof and pulled it clean off the car before ripping it half, as if it were a piece of paper.

Holding both halves of what was once a car roof in my hands, I brought them down on the car seats again and again, ripping them to shreds while I shrieked like an enraged banshee.

At that point, I just lost it. I punched, I kicked, I slammed things down, I threw them away with my webs and I ripped them in half. I didn't care how much damage I was doing, just that I was doing damage in the first place. There was an anger in me; a thirst for violence that needed to be quenched. I let myself feel the full extent of my anger now, so much so that I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to. All I could hear was the sound of my drumming heart and metal being rended and torn like as my body looked for a new target after the last one was destroyed. It didn't matter what it was, all that mattered was that I could destroy it without anyone consequences and even that was a minor concern at this point.

This anger was different, it wasn't stemming from teenage hormones that refused to be told what to do, this was more feral, animalistic, savage; it was the kind that I've only seen on those nature documentaries about large predators and how they killed their prey.

The implications of that idea alone; the thought of becoming more animal than human, losing my capacity for complex thought, my sentience, and being reduced to a creature that is completely governed and commanded solely by its instincts, was absolutely terrifying. The fact that I couldn't control the rage-indufed frenzy that I'm in right now only made that possibility all the more likely to happen.

Now more than ever, I wished that damn spider hadn't bitten me.

I was so lost in my rage that I had absolutely no sense of time. I have no idea how long I've been tearing up old cars in the junkyard, but I do know that by the time I felt my rage fade away enough for me to start thinking rationally, I was bent over with my hands resting on my knees, panting and sweating heavily while I was surrounded by rended and torn pieces of metal and shattered pieces of glass in piles that were as high as I was tall.

Needless, to say, I did quite a number on this place. Not that anyone would care, these cars were set to be demolished anyway. As far as I'm concerned I just made things easier for the poor shmuck who had that job.

"Cin? Is that you?"

I groaned out loud because of course, Peter was here, too. Why can't anything ever go my way for once?! The last thing I want to do is snap at my best friend.

I heard his footsteps grow louder as he grew closer and all of a sudden he took a sharp intake of breath and held it in his lungs.

I don't blame him for being shocked. Seeing his best friend in the middle of all this destruction was probably the last thing he expected to see when he came to the junkyard.

Speaking of which...

"Hey, Pete" I greeted with a lazy wave of my hand. "You here for another one of your dumpster dives?"

It took about a minute for him to compose himself, but he finally managed a reply. "um...yeah, actually. I've been texting you all morning, I thought maybe our new powers could help us find things that we may have missed before."

I snorted and shook my head. "Pete, anything buried under something so heavy that we'll need to use our super strength to move it will not be working anytime soon"

"Okay, you definitely have a point there, but we could still use our enhanced senses to look around and maybe we'll find something we can salvage"

"Worth a try" I said with a shrug, before continuing as I kicked at some of the scrap at my feet. "I'd recommend going to some other part of the junkyard, though. You won't find anything here other than scraps of metal and shards of glass"

Peter looked at the pile and winced. "Bad day?" He asked unnecessarily.

"Days. Plural." I corrected, before looking down at the pile. "I just needed to let out some steam and this seemed like the best place to do it. Don't worry, though. I'm...75% sure that I only destroyed old rusted cars and no innocent electronics fell victim to my rampage."

Actually, it was more like zero percent, but he didn't need to know that.

Peter snorted out a chuckle and I let out a tired one in return. We stayed silent for a few seconds, before he spoke up.

"You wanna talk about it?"

A single eyebrow rose up warningly. "Are you sure you want to open up that can of worms?"

He held his hands up in defense. "I am not volunteering to be your punching bag, if that's what you're thinking..." He paused before continuing. "Unless that's what you need right now, because if it is then I'm sure I can take a few hits"

I glared at him in irritation. "That's not what I meant, Pete." I was still a bit angry, sure, but I wasn't going to take it out on my best friend. "You've seen how I get when I have bad days before. Do you really want to deal with that now, with me being spider-powered?"

He just shrugged and smiled. "Friends stay together till the end, right?"

I smiled back, albeit thinly and more reserved. Peter had always believed that and always followed through on that belief, but part of me couldn't help but question until when would he stay by my side; how much of my arachnid side-effects would he we be able to overlook and shrug off before he forgets that decade old belief of his and abandons me?

Earlier thoughts and worries about my possibly becoming a mindless rampaging spider creature came to the forefront of my mind, quickly followed by the image of my relentless rampage throughout the junkyard and the aftermath of said rampage.

I had my answer.

If I didn't get rid of these powers soon or at the very least get the under control, it was only a matter of time before I lose my best friend.

Making sure that nothing betrayed my troubled thoughts, I replied evenly. "Maybe some other time, Pete. Honestly, I'm just completely spent at this point and all I want to do is sleep the day away"

That was a lie. Sure, I was tired now, but I could already feel my body recovering. Apparently, superhuman stamina comes with the whole spider-power package.

Thankfully, Peter nods his head in acceptance. "Okay, yeah that's understandable, but I'm right here if you need me, okay?"

 _For how long?_ I thought sadly.

Outwardly, I gave another small smile as I picked up my bag and took out my phone to check the time.

It was 12:45 in the afternoon.

I've been rampaging for more than five hours straight.

And I also had fifteen minutes to get to my gymnastics class.

This day just keeps getting better and better.

.

It took me around ten minutes to get to the gym for my gymnastics lesson, using a combination of parkour, wall-crawling and web-swinging. So, by the time, I got there I still had five minutes to change into my long-sleeved white leotard, which I had apparently not taken out since last week's class. That's when a new problem presented itself.

You see, a gymnasts leotards are designed to minimize drag and allow free movement, which is why they were so form-fitting and stretchy. The problem is that while my old leotards were a perfect fit for my old body.

They were practically suffocating me in my new one, particularly in the chest area.

I stared at my white clad form in the full-length mirror as I tied my hair up, feeling very self-conscious and resisting the urge to fidget.

It wasn't really all that uncomfortable to wear per se, at least not physically. The material did stretch and while it would take some time, I would get used to moving while wearing it, not to mention the material would adjust to the new size as well.

What I do have a problem with, is my white uniform accentuating each and every curve on my body like a second skin, more specifically the kind of attention it would garner, particularly from a certain silver-haired-

"I've gotta hand it to you, Cindy. Puberty looks good on you"

I let out a sigh that was equal parts exasperated and resigned, before I finished tying my hair up and turned around to face the source of the all too seductive and oh so familiar purring voice.

Glistening silver-white hair fell in waves around creamy white skin that disappeared underneath a long-sleeved black leotard, accentuating a voluptuous body that far surpassed my own like a second skin, smooth and toned legs that stretched on forever, bubble gum pink lips danced with a seductive smile and emerald green eyes twinkled mischievously on a heart-shaped face that looked no older than 18.

This is Felicia Hardy, she's been attending this class for two years now and probably the best gymnast here in Queens, maybe even New York. She just turned 18 last month and moved out of the house she shared with her mother at the same time. From what she's told me, she lives in a pent house suite. How she pays for that, I have no idea and she never gives me a straight answer.

Why do I know all of this? Simple, she tells me.

Why does she tell me? That's simple, too.

She's a lesbian or at least bisexual and she's had her eyes on me since I first started going to gymnastics class a year ago.

"Not as good as it does on you, though, Felicia" I quipped half-heartedly.

"I wouldn't say that" Felicia purred out before stepping closer to my personal space.

Her touch was feather-light as she traces a finger up and down my fabric-clad waist as she continued. "You're still a growing, after all."

Her other hand then snaked behind my waist and pulled me tight against her body. I had to bite back a gasp as she slowly started grinding against me.

She leaned her head down right next to my ear and cooed as she continued her ministrations. "Mmm...yup, definitely still growing."

The hand that's been tracing my waist suddenly went up to cup and fondle my breast gently. This time I did let out a gasp, as well as, a whimper.

"Felicia..." I gasped out as my heart started beating faster. "...now might not be a good time, I-" I gasped again as her lips started sucking on my neck.

I swallowed a few times and tried to take my mind off her gentle ministrations before speaking up again. "Felicia, I...um...I've been having a rough day, so..."

"All the more reason for you to relax and unwind" Felicia purred seductively.

"Felicia-"

"Let me guess, you and mother dearest not seeing eye to eye on what you want to do with your life, so you stormed out of the house and now you more or less have nowhere to go." Felicia stated as she pulled back to look me in the eye.

I've gotten used to Felicia knowing what's wrong with my life a long time ago, so I just shrugged. "More or less"

"Mhm..." Felicia hummed and nodded, her hands still continuing their ministrations. "you know you could always stay with me, right? Get away from your Mom's controlling ways for a little while?"

I wasn't solely lesbian, but I wasn't completely straight either, given how much I enjoyed Felicia's touches and our little...sessions. Say what you want, but I'm a teenage girl with needs, ones that are not being satisfied, since my tight schedule and control freak of a mother did not allow a romantic relationship where I was involved.

Was I in a relationship with Felicia Hardy? No.

Was I in love with Felicia Hardy? No.

Were we friends with benefits? Yes.

Did I mind? No.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, especially when Felicia is involved.

And in this particular moment, I really wanted to spend most of my time with Felicia, doing exactly what we were doing now.

"You know, I might just take you up on that offer."

 **.**

 **.**

 **And with that, Cindy's web of relationships just got even more complicated than it already was.**

 **Okay, so just so we're all clear. Cindy is not in a relationship with Felicia Hardy. They are more or less friends with benefits, no romantic relationship whatsoever and they have not had sex! Just fooled around. You know make out, grope, grind etc.**

 **Also, in the Silk comics, Cindy's complex relationship with her family, Peter Parker, and Black Cat are one of her more notable aspects in her story, so I thought I'd focus on that in this chapter.**

 **Anyways, what do you guys think? Let me know in the reviews section below and if you like this story, then feel free to hit that follow or favorite button.**

 **Farewell for now - K.I. Hernandez**


	5. What Am I To You?

**Happy Valentines Day, Everyone! As my personal gift for all of you on this very special day, here's a new chapter, posted a whole week ahead of schedule and chock full of love, complicated emotions, and crying, the valentine's day trifecta!**

 **At any rate, I know that I promised real plot progression for chapter five, but I'm afraid that's gonna have to wait because I really felt the need to elaborate more on Felicia and Cindy's unique relationship with each other, since it kinda came out on a left field. Plus, I thought it's be nice to show some actual romance, given the genre of this story.**

 **Warning: Possibly hot and steamy scenes ahead! T rating will be stretched to the limit!**

 **Enjoy the show!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 5:** **What Am I to You?**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I. Hernandez**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

Felicia Hardy and I have been attending the same gymnastics class for a year and we've been friends with benefits for eighty percent of that time. So far, I did not regret the decision to give in to her desires, as well as, my own.

I was definitely reluctant, if not downright against the whole thing, at first; mostly because of the fact that I had never really had a girl advance on me with that kind of intent before, much less with such purpose.

There were boys, sure, but they were few and far between and even then, they were just small-time crushes that was caused by infatuation, most of them never even bothered to make a move, no doubt because of my control freak of a mother.

Felicia, on the other hand, had taken one long look at me in my leotard on my first day of gymnastics class in the locker room and she came onto me in such a way that made me question my sexuality for the first time in over a decade.

I tried to resist her for months, of course, unwilling to give in to her so easily. It was mostly because I didn't want to feel like some sort of sex toy that she could have whenever she wanted.

Eventually, though, I gave in to her one day and she did not disappoint.

Years of pent-up frustration both caused by my mother's controlling ways and unsatisfied base urges had faded away from my mind in the course of one night. The morning after was one the best mornings of my life. I haven't felt so happy and light in almost 10 years.

At that point, I was like a junkie addicted to a drug, I came back for more again and again and Felicia obliged me every single time and she made sure that each time was always better than the last, getting me even more hooked on her than before.

In many ways, these escapades were what kept me sane and allowed me to tolerate my mother's controlling ways for almost a year and considering the fact that mother dearest redoubled her controlling ways around this time and that we had never fought too much or too often, speaks volumes of the effect Felicia can have on me.

But it wasn't just about the intimacy, though. Don't get me wrong, all the groping, grinding, touching, fondling, making out, etc. was definitely a big contributing factor, but it was mostly because it was Felicia, someone who could relate to me in a way that very few people can.

As much as I appreciated having Peter as my best friend, he could never truly relate to me when it comes to "Mommy issues", since his Aunt May didn't try to control his life to do what's best for him and just lets him do as he pleased majority of the time.

Felicia, on the other hand, had almost as much issues with her own mother as I did with my own. Key word: Almost.

See, while my mother infuriates me to no end because of her controlling ways, Felicia's mother only ever acknowledges her existence occasionally, since being too busy working as a criminal lawyer and her father...well, let's just say that she only ever sees him once in a blue moon and even then, there was no guarantee that she would even see him.

In fact, some of our...sessions started with us ranting to each other about our mothers and how they never understood us or were never there for us when we needed them, until we both decide to drown our rants and dismays in heated intimacy; to forget about or woes for just one night.

Tonight was not one of those nights, though.

As soon as Felicia had opened the door to her penthouse apartment and we were past the threshold, I jumped her from behind, forgoing the usual pre-session ranting and diving headfirst to what came after, my hands diving underneath the skin-tight fabric of her black leotard and matching lace bra to cup and fondle her breasts before she could even blink.

She let out a yelp in surprise that quickly turned into a moan as she threw her head back, giving me a perfect view of her creamy white neck that I couldn't help but suck on.

So I did.

I don't know how much time had passed, since I was so engrossed with the sensation of Felicia's large breasts filling every inch of my hands and my lips on her neck, but eventually Felicia had let out an amused chuckle between her moans and gasps.

"Well...I see...someone's...a little...eager" Felicia got out between gasps and moans, continuing to rock her body against mine.

Honestly, given just how bad the last few days have been and how much worse today was in particular, I'm actually surprised that I managed to wait this long and hadn't just done this right then and there in the girl's locker room earlier.

"I've been waiting for this for awhile now" I murmured against the skin of her neck as I nuzzled. "and honestly, I don't think one night will be enough"

"Well, then it's a good thing you'll be here for a while" Felicia purred as I resumed kissing the base of her neck. "By all means, Cindy, take all the time you need"

Oh, I intended to.

.

It was a pretty long night, even for us when it comes to these kinds of sessions. Usually, either one or both of us are exhausted and nod off at around 11 at night. This time, though, our little session had lasted until the dawn of the next day.

Apparently, superhuman stamina comes with the spider-power package...and a superhuman libido, too. Though that could just be my pent-up frustration talking.

Still, Felicia was only human and with that came limits, despite her not wanting to acknowledge them, particularly when it comes to things like this and especially when I'm involved. I think it was more of a pride thing being older and all and not wanting someone younger to outlast her.

As it stands, Felicia was practically half-asleep while I was still going strong at around two in the morning. Still, I didn't want to overwork her too much, so I had simply pretended to fall asleep before she did, to ease her pride, if nothing else.

After only a few seconds, Felicia was fast asleep, but not before she entangled our legs together tightly, pressed her crotch against mine, wrapped her arms around my neck and practically buried my face into her DD+ breasts, which were still covered by her black bra.

Before she completely succumbed to her exhaustion, she leaned her lips next to my ear and whispered.

"Let's go a little further next time, okay? That is, if you're ready"

My eyes flew open at her words and I snapped my head back to look at her, only to find that she was already asleep.

Nevertheless, her words still rang in my mind as I kept staring at her sleeping face.

 _Let's go a little further next time, okay?_

Further? Did she mean...was she actually expecting us to...have sex? Did she want me to have sex with her? Next time? When was next time?

 _That is, if you're ready._

Was I? Ready, I mean? Was I really ready for something like that? I mean, once you do that, there's no going back, no second chance and no do-over. What would she do if I wasn't ready? Would she kick me out and dump me?

That possibility made my stomach twist and sink with dread, but then I replayed her words again in my head.

 _Let's go a little further next time, okay? That is, if you're ready_

It was different...the way she said those words, her tone, it was different. It wasn't her usual seductive purr that made most men weak in the knees. Her usual seductive intent was gone. There wasn't even a veiled warning of leaving me, if I refused.

But what was so different, then?

 _Let's go a little further next time, okay? That is, if you're ready_

Her voice...it wasn't filled with lust, longing, or hunger...it sounded affectionate, caring, tender, delicate and gentle...it reminded me of all those main character in romance movies I used to watch.

It was like she was talking to someone she loved.

My grew wide as dinner plates and I swear my heart had stopped as that particular thought struck me like lightning from Thor's hammer.

Was that it? Did she love me? Like real honest to god 'I care more about you than I do myself' love? H-how long had she felt this way? Was it just now? Did it build up over time? Was her view what we were to each other different than mine? How different were they? Aren't we supposed to be just friends with benefits and nothing more? Wasn't that what we were? What were we now?

My mind raced with question after question as my heart pounded in my chest and I think my ears were ringing too as I started to hyperventilate.

Was she expecting more from me? Did she believe that I felt the same way she did? Did she expect me to love her back? Oh god, what if I couldn't? Had I been leading her on this entire time? Was she trying to win me over? Is that why she let me fool around with her?

I took in a deep calming breath and let it out slowly, repeating the process again and again, willing myself to calm down. When I finally managed that and my heart was no longer in danger of bursting out of my chest, I started to compartmentalize the thoughts in my head, putting aside my panic for now and looking at things from a more logical standpoint.

Okay, Cindy calm down. You're probably overreacting a little bit and definitely getting way ahead of yourself here.

I closed my eyes and buried my face into Felicia's chest as I let myself think.

All the earlier panic...all those panicked thoughts...it was all based on an assumption that I had automatically believed was a fact; Felicia Hardy was in love with me.

I took my face out of her ample bosom as I stared up at her peacefully sleeping face.

Was Felicia really in love with me, though? I had automatically assumed that it was true, but what evidence did I have to back up that claim of mine? Two sentence fragments that were uttered while she was seconds away from falling asleep. Not really credible or reliable.

Furthermore...what if this was all just a game for her? What if she had done this several times before with other men and women? Her seductive nature and manner would certainly make most men succumb to her in a matter of seconds, what if I was just a challenge to her; the latest in her long line of lovers and that the only reason she's stayed with me this long is because no one else has caught her eye, yet.

Was that what I was? Her latest conquest? Another name to cross off on her list of lovers before she moved on to the next name?

All evidence seemed to point only to a single answer: Yes, to all three questions. Everything about Felicia supported this theory, the way she spoke, the way she moved, her demeanor, it all intended to do one thing: to seduce and seduction only ever resulted in one night stands.

That's all I was worth, a one night stand. After I give in, she'll move on to the next man or woman and I'll barely be a passing memory to her.

Felicia Hardy was not in love with me.

I should be relieved that all my earlier worries were unfounded.

I closed my eyes and buried face in Felicia's chest as my arms tightened around her waist, as tears started flowing down my eyes.

So, why do I feel like crying?

.

I didn't sleep well after that realization or at all really. So, for the remaining hours of dawn I was plagued by the realization I made before tears started running down my eyes.

That I was just another conquest to Felicia Hardy, just one of many men and women that she's been with.

I didn't even know why this fact hurt me as much as it did, though.

The possibility that Felicia had fallen in love with me sent me into a panicked frenzy, but when I come to the conclusion that this was just another fling to her I feel heartbroken.

Honestly, whatever happened to being friends with benefits? Things were so much simpler back then. Had a bad day? Need a chance to unwind? Go straight to Felicia's place and start fooling around. It was that simple. Why couldn't it have just stayed that way?

Why did all these emotions have to come up and make things as complicated as they were now?

"You know, I specifically remember telling you that if you do not like what we're doing or are not comfortable with something, then you would tell me outright and not hide it from me."

I was startled by the sound of Felicia's slightly accusatory voice, but managed to keep my eyes closed.

I was not ready for this conversation, so I just feigned sleep and hoped that she would buy it.

A few seconds passed and still Felicia did not say anything. Huh, maybe she really did believe that I was still aslee-

"I know you're awake, so stop pretending to be asleep"

Damn it.

Still, I was not ready for this conversation, so I just pulled her body closer to me and buried my face in my chest.

Spider powers or not I was still a coward.

I heard Felicia let out an annoyed sigh, before she placed both hands on my shoulders and started trying to pry my face out of her chest. I didn't want to though and seeing as that I'm the one with superhuman strength, she wasn't gonna win this one.

"Cindy, seriously will you stop trying to hide in my chest and look at me?"

No, I will not.

"Why are you even hiding?"

To be honest, even I'm not sure. Was it because I didn't want to see her while knowing that this was just a temporary thing for her? Or was I hiding because I didn't want her to find out that I may not see her the way she sees me now?

I just kept clinging and burying my face in her chest, not at all willing to show my face to her.

"Cindy."

I froze and my frantic breathing hitched in my chest.

I didn't know what it was that caused such a reaction in me, maybe it was Felicia's tone being devoid of its usual warmth and affection or maybe it was because the thinly-veiled warning in the way she said my name reminded me all too much of my feeling estranged by my own mother.

Whatever it was, I flung myself as far away from Felicia as her queen-sized bed would allow and buried my entire body in the thick blankets.

I don't know why but hearing Felicia, of all people, say my name the way she did really hurt...it kinda made me feel like I was unwanted.

Geez, when did I become so emotionally unbalanced and unpredictable like this?

"Cindy?"

Felicia's voice was soft with concern, but I flinched all the same, the way she said my name earlier still fresh in my mind. Stupid eidetic memory.

"You're really starting to worry me here." I felt the mattress shift and I can tell that she was crawling all the way to where I was curled up on the far side of the bed.

I did not take the blankets off, even when I felt her hand on my shoulder through them. "Cindy, what's wrong?"

I stayed silent.

I felt the blankets behind me shift as if they were being lifted and before I had a chance to react, I felt Felicia's warm body press against my back and her legs entwine with mine, while her hands wrapped around my waist started gently stroking it.

It was nice. It felt really nice. It always was when Felicia was this affectionate with me. As she continued her gentle strokes, I slowly started to relax, until I was leaning into her body.

It was pretty sad. How quick I was to fold under Felicia's touch. Honestly, whatever happened to the 'me' from a year ago who didn't want to be someone that Felicia could have whenever she wanted.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong now?" Felicia asked gently as she continued her ministrations.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied breathlessly, deciding to play dumb.

Even though I couldn't see it, I know Felicia rolled her eyes.

"Uh-huh, sure, then I suppose you were just crying for no reason then?" She asked sarcastically, still continuing her ministrations.

"I wasn't crying" I lied.

"Oh? Then why are there tears trailing down your cheeks?"

My hands shot up to rub at my cheek before I could stop myself and inwardly cursed when they came up dry. That was all the confirmation Felicia needed.

Still, I didn't volunteer any information or explain myself.

When my silence continued, Felicia asked again. "Why were you crying?"

I don't bother denying it, but I don't answer either. Still, she continued her comforting ministrations.

"Did I do something you weren't comfortable with last night?"

My eyes widened at the genuine fear in her voice. I didn't want her thinking that, so I shook my head.

"Did I pressure you into making our session last night longer?"

Again, I shook my head.

"Did I say anything that hurt you?"

I froze minutely, before I shook my head.

Felicia hummed and I felt her nodding thoughtfully. "So I did say something"

I knew she replaying last night in her head, trying to find what she said that made me cry. In my panic, I accidentally blurted out. "You didn't say anything."

Even though I still had my head turned away from her, I could practically see Felicia's raised eyebrow, silently prompting me to continue.

"I just had a..." I paused. "...nightmare?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"uh...telling you?"

"Was that a question?"

"...No?"

"You're a terrible liar, Cindy." Felicia said matter-of-factly.

I didn't argue and I didn't say anything more, mostly because I didn't really know what to say after that.

Seconds passed by in silence, until Felicia eventually broke it with a sigh that sounded really sad.

"Cindy, can't you just tell me what's wrong?" I felt her lips kiss my cheek before she started nuzzling my neck, her hands still making comforting circles around my waist. "It really hurts to see you shut yourself in like this, it makes me feel like you don't trust me."

"I do trust you." I whispered softly.

"Then tell me what's wrong. We don't hide things like this from each other, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

She hummed approvingly before asking again "So, why were you crying?"

I bit my lip in consideration. Should I tell her the truth? How would she take it?

After a few seconds, I finally admitted "S-something you said last night just made me wonder about a few things is all"

Felicia was quiet for a few moments before she eventually said. "Cindy, you know, that I won't try to pressure or force you into having sex with me, don't you?"

Wow, I'm surprised she actually remembered that considering she was practically unconscious at that point.

"Yeah, I know that" I replied, still not looking at her.

"Good" Felicia said, sounding relieved, before she continued. "Now, if it isn't about that, then whatever you were wondering about must've been why you started crying."

"You could say that" I said evasively, despite it being the truth.

"What were you wondering about?"

"Uh...you know...things" I was starting to get uneasy about this conversation now.

Felicia hummed in acknowledgement. "Things, huh? What kind of things?"

I had to tell her. I wanted...no, needed to know where I stood with her; what I am to her. For all I know I could worrying myself over nothing. Either way, this was going to keep bothering until I get a real answer, even if it isn't one I want to hear.

I took a deep breath before I just bit the bullet and asked.

"What am I to you, Felicia?"

The effect was instantaneous, her hands around my waist stilled in the motions, I felt her body go rigid where it was pressed against me and I heard her take a sharp intake of breath.

The following silence was deafening but I did not want to be the first one to break it, so I just waited her out.

It was a few long seconds before Felicia finally recovered and her hands resumed their ministrations. She was still a bit tense, though, and when she spoke, her voice no longer sounded comforting and coaxing, it sounded worried.

"Are you sure you want me to answer that question?"

Last chance, Moon. You can either stay in your blissfully oblivious bubble or you can have reality come crashing down your shoulders.

I tempted to say no and continue being oblivious to the truth, but I knew that I would only drive myself crazy with all this speculating and assuming. It was better that I find out the truth now, so that I can plan out what I have to do next.

I nodded my head and whispered. "Yes"

I heard Felicia take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You know that I have a bit of a rough patch with my parents, right?" Felicia asked quietly.

I nodded my head.

"Well, when I first saw you that day in gymastics class, I could already tell just by looking at you that you were going through the same thing I was" Felicia whispered as she continued her ministrations. "And for the most part, I was right. Back then I thought that you could be someone I could vent to without being judged because you understood what it felt like to be so estranged from your own family; a kindred spirit of sorts"

That was understandable. One of the reasons I gave into her in the first place was because she understood what I was going through on some level.

"Of course, it didn't hurt that you were easy on the eyes, too, even before you hit puberty. That was definitely a bonus." Felicia said with reminiscent chuckle.

I snorted at that.

Felicia sobered up quickly and continued. "Anyway, since you were the only one there that could relate to me and I really wanted someone I could relieve my stress with and rant to, I walked right up to you and tried to get you"

I remember that day, I was going through the forms taught to us by the instructor when Felicia showed up out of nowhere and started getting handsy under the pretense of making corrections.

Felicia chuckled, probably thinking of the memory. "You didn't make it easy, though. Playing hard to get for months on end. So stubborn"

I let out a small giggle, too because that was nothing but true, I had avoided her as much as I could.

"Of course, you weren't the only stubborn one. When I see someone I want, I just can't help but do everything I can to get it, no matter the cost, as you may very well know"

"You had the instructor assign you to be my personal tutor back then, all so I couldn't avoid you" I whispered remembering that little surprise.

"But still, you were as stubborn as ever." Felicia said fondly, her voice sounding distant. My guess? She was still reliving the experience. "Months later, I finally wore you down and when you finally let yourself loose, well let's just say that I've never felt that relieved in years."

"Me too." I whispered in agreement.

"I was hooked on it, I never wanted to go back to how I was feeling before. So I kept coming back again and again, not that you needed much convincing after you gave in"

That was true, if anything I'm the one who initiated most of our sessions.

"So, yeah, at first, I just really liked what we were doing you know? Just fooling around, venting our frustrations out to each other before drowning our woes in hot and heavy make-out sessions that last all the way to midnight. It was really simple, you know?"

Yes, I did know because I felt the same way she did.

"But?" I prompted in a whisper.

I could tell that what she was going to say next will confirm either one of my earlier assumptions. So, I mentally prepared myself.

Felicia was silent for a few seconds and I felt her ministrations intensify.

Finally, she said. "After a while, I started to see the real you"

"The real me?" I asked breathlessly.

I felt Felicia nod. "The little girl that was deprived of her mother's love and affection; the girl who is starved for affection and just wanted someone to love her for who she really is, the way her mother never could."

I take a shuddering breath and my eyes started to sting a bit.

Come on, Cindy, pull it together. Don't you dare start crying now. Do not cry, Cindy Moon.

Despite my best efforts, I felt warm streams of tears stain my cheeks as I let out a small sniffle. Not a second later, I felt Felicia's warm lips kiss the tears away gently.

Still kissing my flowing tears, Felicia continued. "When I saw just how much you were really hurting, I realized something."

"What?" I asked quietly.

I felt one of her hands slowly slip under my white sports bra to cup and carress one of my breasts while the other slipped under my white sports panties to gently cup and carress my clit.

Feeling both of her hands squirming beneath my undergarments, I couldn't but gasp at the squirming sensation.

Still focused on her tender ministrations, I heard Felicia continue. "That I want to be the girl who showed you the affection you deserved; the girl who gets to comfort you and make you feel better by holding you close, the girl who makes you feel special, the girl who gets to pepper every single inch of your body with kisses, the girl who gets to touch every part of you, the girl who gets to see every inch of you. I want to be the girl who gives you the love that you always craved for, the girl who loves you."

Whatever relief I felt at finding out that I was not just another conquest to Felicia was quickly drowned out by panic.

I could feel myself hyperventilating as all the earlier worries I had about this scenario resurfaced and came to the forefront of my mind.

One thing's for sure, though. Felicia did not deserve to be led on and she deserves someone who could repay her love in kind.

I'm not sure that someone could be me.

I suddenly found it hard to speak as soon as I realized that, but I tried to tell Felicia all the same. "Felicia, I-"

"Let me guess" Felicia cut me off. "You weren't expecting this to happen and now you're worrying about whether or not you can love me back"

I don't speak, but my silence was answer enough.

Felicia leaned into me and planted a deep kiss on my lips. Out of habit, I kissed her back, but it felt different than before.

It wasn't frantic or wild or rough like it usually was, it was soft, gentle, and tender, just like the way her hands carressed my breast and my crotch.

Her touches and her kiss it wasn't meant to blow off steam or to give into lust, it was meant to purely show affection...for me.

"You don't have to worry about that now, Cindy." Felicia murmured against my lips. "I can tell that you'll get where I am now"

"How do you know that...for sure?" I murmured with eyes closed, still engrossed in the kiss and her gentle caresses.

Felicia chuckled before answering "You know how I am, Cindy. When I see someone I want, I just can't help but do everything I can to get it, no matter the cost."

She pulled back and I opened my eyes to look at her.

I am absolutely astonished at the amount of love I saw in her emerald green eyes.

"And I have no intention of giving you up, Cindy Moon"

Any doubts or worries I had in my mind about our shift in relationship were pushed aside as I leaned up slightly to capture Felicia's lips in a tender and gentle kiss before dragging her down with me, starting yet another session because when all was said and done, I knew one thing for sure.

I cannot lose Felicia Hardy.

.

 **.**

 **Hmm...you know, now that I wrote this out like this, I'm starting to feel like this story is shaping up to be more of a BlackSilk story than a SpiderSilk one...I can still fixed that though with the next chapter entitled, The Threads of Tragedy! Where we'll also get our first crossover character that doesn't belong to the MCU, look forward to that, true believers!**

 **Anyways, if you're interested in this story or the author then click the follow button down below, if you really like the story and the author then click the favorite button, and if you have something to say or just want to leave words of encouragement, then take the time to write in the reviews section.**

 **Once again, Happy Valentine's Day!**

 **Farewell For Now - K.I. Hernandez**


	6. The Threads of Tragedy Part 1

**Wow has it already been more than two months since my last update? Damn, time sure flies fast these days, is that an adult thing or what? Because days seemed to last forever when I was a kid.**

 **Anyways, I have some good news, bad news, and worse news for you guys.**

 **Good news? You finally get an update, so...yay?**

 **Bad news? It's not like the one I promised last chapter.**

 **Worse news? I've hit a major case of writer's block and am completely stumped as to how to continue the latter half of this chapter.**

 **Okay, in my defense, I thought it would be better to post the first half of this chapter right now, instead of waiting until the entire chapter was finished before posting it.**

 **As it turns out, converting notes into full-fledged story chapters are a lot harder than I thought.**

 **At any rate, even though this is just the first half of what I promised I hope you'll still take the time to read it.**

 **Enjoy the show**

 **.**

 **.**

 **After the Spider Bite**

 **Chapter 6:** **The Threads of Tragedy Part 1**

 **.**

 **Original Universes: Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Sony's Marvel Cinematic Universe,**

 **Fox's Marvel Cinematic Universe**

 **.**

 **Original Concept by: Stan Lee**

 **.**

 **Written By: K.I. Hernandez**

 **.**

 **.**

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

I wasn't really a morning person.

Mornings just marked another day of enduring my mother's controlling ways via balancing my schedule between the things that I actually wanted to do and whatever she had planned for me to do (re: her latest attempts to get me to give up on gymnastics)

Of course, there were times when I did enjoy mornings.

Said mornings were always whenever I woke up in Felicia's arms.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to a beautiful silver-haired woman spooning you?

Still, this morning right here is probably one of the best mornings of my entire life, all my other mornings with Felicia included.

And it wasn't because Felicia's hands were still cupping my breasts and clit intimately under my bra and panties.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie that was definitely a contributing factor; a really big contributing factor.

But it was mostly because of the conversation we had before; how Felicia told me that she was willing to wait for me to be ready and that she wasn't going to give up on me.

Most girls I knew wouldn't be as understanding as Felicia is being right now if they were in her shoes, but then again, Felicia wasn't like most girls.

Honestly, I was more relieved than anything because I could not lose Felicia Hardy.

She was like my own personal escape.

Whenever I was with her, I would cut loose and let myself be the teenager that I really am; I can break free from all my duties and responsibilities as the perfect little daughter Mom was trying to mold me into.

She was an escape, a form of teenage rebellion, like taking up gymnastics against my mother's wishes.

She became more than that, though. She became someone I genuinely cared about. I wouldn't go as far as to say I loved her, but I like to think that it was close to that.

It wasn't that Felicia was someone that I couldn't bring myself to love, though. I just couldn't really bring myself to honestly say that I did love her this very moment.

Not yet anyway. But maybe some time in the future.

Who knows? Maybe it's a lot sooner than I think.

I looked over my shoulder to peek at Felicia's sleeping form, taking in every little detail, from her soft and smooth skin to her glossy and luscious mane of silver hair, then I thought about everything I knew about her, from her parental issues to her special brand of charm.

Yeah, I could definitely see myself falling for her. There's no doubt about that.

As soon as I realized that, though, something unsettling came to mind.

What if she leaves me before I do fall in love with her?

What if she decides that I'm not worth the wait?

Of course, that didn't make sense. She had just told me that she wasn't going to give me up on me, but what if she meant it now, but changed her mind later.

I couldn't handle that.

"I can't lose you" I whispered to the sleeping silver-haired beauty.

I didn't know if she was awake enough to hear me, but it didn't matter, I just had to say it. I had no intention of losing her and I'm gonna make sure she doesn't get a reason to give up.

Love is a two-way street and it's about time I started pulling my weight in this unique relationship of ours.

Even if I all but confirmed that I didn't love her the same way that she did me right now; I could still show her how much I appreciated her and how much she meant to me, right?

That was okay, wasn't it?

What to do though?

I stared at Felicia as I considered my options.

I heaved a slow breath and slowly let it out, my hand absently going up to cup Felicia's hand through my sports bra as I wracked my brain to get an idea of what to do for her.

Buying her expensive gifts was out of the question.

There was no way I could afford something like a diamond studded necklace and anything I _could_ afford would pale in comparison to anything Felicia already owned.

Honestly, I think there was a small fortune in her closet alone.

I'm not made of money and I don't really buy into that whole "it's the thought that counts" thing when it comes to gift-giving either. I'm pretty sure that's just the tactful way of saying you didn't like your gift.

So, yeah, gift giving was definitely out.

Take her out to dinner, maybe? Too pricey.

Get her a bouquet of flowers? Too cliche.

Get her a card? What am I? Five?

Take her to Coney Island? Not bad, but it could give her the impression that it was a date. Not something I want to do.

A loud growl suddenly reached my ears and I whipped my head back to look at Felicia, my eyes slowly trailed down her curves, until they landed on her stomach, which was pressed against my back.

As if on cue, her stomach gave another growl, this one louder than the last.

Breakfast in bed it is then.

It took some time, effort and a lot of self-control but I eventually managed to pry myself out of Felicia's arms and off the bed. I fixed my undergarment and tossed my unruly hair back, before making my way to the door.

One hand resting on the doorknob, I paused and looked at Felicia over my shoulder.

Even when her hair looks unruly like it usually was in the morning and she's wearing nothing but a pair of black lacy underwear, she still looked beautiful.

I saw the faint traces of a smile grace her soft bubblegum pink lips and wondered if I was the one who put it there.

They parted slightly and I felt a shiver run down my spine, practically feeling the phantom sensation of those soft lips leaving trails of heat over every inch of my ski-.

I walked out the room and closed the door behind me in an instant. I knew for a fact that if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to resist pouncing on Felicia's delectable and prone bod-

Nope, not gonna think about it.

I speed-walked to the kitchen and willed the color away from my cheeks while trying to stifle the heat emanating from certain parts of my body.

It didn't work. Should I take a cold shower first?

Not a bad idea, except the only shower in the whole penthouse was in Felicia's room and I don't think I could walk into that room again and resist pouncing on Felicia's-

Memories of last night's escapade flooded my mind and the heat in my body started to grow more prominent, so much so, that I had to bite my lip and cross my legs as I shivered at the phantom traces of her touch.

Jeez, having an eidetic memory really sucked sometimes.

"Dammit, Cindy, pull yourself together." I muttered to myself, before slapping my cheeks lightly. "Think of something else, anything else."

Breakfast, I need to focus on making breakfast, not who I'm making breakfast for and _what_ I would rather do than make breakfast...

...or rather _who_ I'd rather do.

Briskly, I walked towards the fridge and opened it to see what I had to work with.

Surprisingly, there were no leftover takeout containers inside, like I had expected. There was a smorgasbord of food, ranging from raw fruits and vegetables to containers of milk, eggs, and the random condiment here and there.

Honestly there was practically an entire grocery store inside Felicia's fridge.

After taking stock of the inventory, I just settled on making breakfast burritos and hash browns.

Partly because I can still remember a recipe from one of those cooking shows that I saw a few days ago, mostly because I really need a distraction right now and this recipe was just complicated enough to provide that.

I just hope my spider-side doesn't decide to screw me over once again like they have so many times in the past few days.

Fifteen minutes into making breakfast with no incident whatsoever, I finally allowed myself to relax. If my spider-powers weren't going to make me screw up breakfast by now then it probably won't act up at all.

I was just about to finish putting the food and a cup of coffee on the tray when...

"Now this is a sight I could get used to"

I jumped at the familiar voice and looked up with wide-eyes. Sure enough, Felicia was leaning on the kitchen doorway wearing nothing but an ill-fitting white t-shirt to cover her undergarments.

Seeing Felicia's eyes roam over me, I felt a shiver run down my body.

Right now, I am slowly becoming aware of the fact that I was only in my underwear. I was in such a hurry to leave the room that I didn't realize I was still in my underwear.

I gulped down my nerves and tried to distract Felicia from my state of undress. "Well, there goes my breakfast-in-bed plans."

Felicia's eyes met mine and they softened, just like they did when she admitted to having feelings for me.

"Aww, you made me breakfast-in-bed?" she purred affectionately, her tone similar to the one she used before.

I couldn't help but blush furiously at hearing it again, so I just looked down on the floor and started rubbing my arm sheepishly, suddenly feeling very small and unsure.

"Yeah...well...I just wanted to do something...for you, you know?" I stuttered out awkwardly, keeping my gaze on the floor.

"That's really sweet of you, Cindy." I heard her say sincerely.

"It's nothing" I said dismissively and nodded, trying to hide my blush by keeping my gaze on the floor.

I could hear Felicia walk over to where I was standing, but I resolutely kept my gaze fixed on the floor. She probably just walked closer to try the food I made, so I didn't read too much into it.

That is, until her hands wrapped around my bare waist and pulled me close to her body.

My eyes flew open and I snapped my head up, like I've been shocked. I looked over my shoulder at Felicia a shocked protest already at the tip of my tongue. "Felicia, what-"

Her lips found my neck and sucked. Hard.

Any protests I had instantly died, replaced by a long, pleasure-filled moan that reverberated through my throat.

Instinctually, I folded against her soft, warm body, my eyes closing in pleasure and hands going up to caress the ones she had around my waist as I revelled in the sensation of her smooth skin.

Damn, she was really good at this, not like me, I mostly just went with what felt right and followed her lead.

I didn't really know how much pleasure she was getting out of me during our little sessions, but I'm sure it was a lot less than what I'm getting in return.

Not very fair and that didn't sit well with me, especially when I'm trying to do something nice for her.

So when I felt her fingers graze the hem of my sports bra, I thought it best to stop her now before breakfast turns into yet another steamy make-out session.

"Felicia, what are you doing?" I tried to protest, but my voice came out sounding like a breathless whisper. Not a good sign.

Her lips lift away from the skin on my neck minutely to reply. "Enjoying my breakfast."

I shivered at the feel of her breath ghosting on my skin. Three words, it took all of three words for her to send a pleasure-filled shiver running down my spine.

What the hell happened to the Cindy who refused to give in to her so easily? When did I become this version of me who folded against her sexual urges at the drop of a hat?

Okay, Cindy calm down, don't let her seductive tone and motions get to you. Just channel the version of you back when you first met and remember the plan. That should be enough.

"Ah...I see...um..." I managed to say, albeit breathlessly. I cleared my throat several times and turned to face her, a little hard to do when she kept her arms around me like she did.

"See, when I said I made you breakfast-in-bed. I was talking about the food on the tray behind me and not...me" I clarified, gesturing to my body for emphasis.

"Really?" Felicia said seductively, before she pulled me against her body and she enveloped my lips with her own, her tongue slipping through my parted lips and exploring my mouth.

My eyes fluttered close and I let out another long moan.

Why did I want her to stop doing this again? It's getting really hard to remember when my mind feels all fuzzy.

Felicia pulled away, leaving me breathless, before she leaned forward until her lips were practically kissing my ear.

"You know, Cindy, you taste a lot better than the food behind you" Felicia whispered seductively, before gently biting my ear.

Right; Food, breakfast, Felicia, making it up to her. That's why I wanted her to stop doing this. Come on, Cindy, you can do this.

"How would you...know that, if you haven't even tasted it...yet" I gasped out breathlessly, trying desperately to calm down.

"Good point, but I doubt anything can taste better than this" she murmured while nibbling and licking my ear.

"Do you doubt my culinary skills? Because I'll have you know that I-" a shiver ran down my spine and my eyes fluttered close in pleasure.

What was I doing again?

Oh right, breakfast.

Focus, Cindy, focus. Focus on breakfast. Think about breakfast and how you're going to get Felicia to eat.

Don't think about her DD+ bust pressing against your chest.

Don't think about her legs squeezing your thighs.

Don't think about her crotch rubbing against yours.

And don't even think about how the heat was starting to pool in certain parts of your body.

Eating the food I made was starting to become less and less appealing right about now

No, stop thinking like that, Cindy! Deep breaths, Cindy, deep calm breaths. In through your nose, out though your mouth.

"Felicia, you're stomach was growling back there in the bedroom and I worked really hard on this breakfast, maybe we shouldn't let it go to waste?"

Please just go along with it, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to resist.

"Okay then~"

I blinked at the easy agreement.

In some ways, Felicia was like a cat with a fish, once she sets her eyes on her prey, she's not going to back down or give up until she gets it.

This easy agreement was more than a little surprising.

Nevertheless, my shoulders sagged with relief and I let out a small sigh when her right arm detached from my waist, only to gasp that same breath in when Felicia leaned further into me, practically sandwiching me between her body and the kitchen counter.

I must've looked like a deer in the headlights right about now because I will never get used to this.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed as I tried to get some distance between our bodies.

Felicia looked down at me, her expression far too innocent and oblivious to be believed.

"Eating my breakfast" she said with coy smile as she quirked a silver brow. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

No, that wasn't what I wanted. This is the farthest thing from what I wanted. What I wanted is for Felicia to eat the breakfast I made for her and for me to see the look on her face when she takes that first bite.

I just kept quiet, biting my lip and averting my eyes as I did.

Eventually, Felicia resumed her attempts to get one of the hash browns and burritos behind me, all while intentionally rubbing her body against me provocatively. I had to bite my lip the entire time to keep myself from moaning out loud.

Leave it to Felicia to find a way to appease me and arouse me at the same time.

I can't say that I particularly minded the multi-tasking, though. I just kinda wished that she would focus more on feeding herself rather than pleasu-

"Mmmmm, so good~"

My breathing hitched as her arms clenched and squeezed me further into her body, one arm still wrapped around my waist and the other looping under my left armpit.

That's it. I really needed a distraction right now or else I won't be able to keep myself from-

Upbeat Korean pop music suddenly started playing loudly and my eyes widened when I recognized the song as my ringtone.

"Oh, that reminds me" Felicia leaned away from me and disentangled her limbs from my body, much to my relief, to pull out my phone from...somewhere under her ill-fitting white shirt, don't know where she kept that and I didn't really want to think about that at the moment.

"Someone's been calling you all morning"

I winced slightly as I took my phone from her. "Is that why you woke up so early?" I asked sheepishly.

Felicia just shrugged with a gentle smile on her face. "It's a pretty catchy song, kinda hard to sleep through that"

"Sorry" I muttered guiltily.

"It's fine, Cindy." Felicia said reassuringly with a smile. "It's probably important since they've been calling non-stop and besides, I was about to get up anyway; sleeping isn't as enjoyable without you in the same bed." Felicia winked at me and I blushed, before averting her gaze to look at my phone.

I blinked as I stared down at the phone's screen incredulously.

15 missed calls and 19 unread messages.

How Felicia managed to sleep through all this for as long as she did was really worrying. Did I really wear her out that much?

Before I could think more about that, my phone buzzed in my hand and started playing the same upbeat k-pop song from before.

I looked down to see the caller ID.

Peter Parker.

The fact that he was calling me this early in the morning was unsettling; I can only think of one reason why Peter would call so persistently this early in the morning.

I pressed 'answer'

.

 _Peter Parker_

 _._

I have customized ringtones for every one of the contacts on my phone.

Honestly, at first I just did it because I had nothing better to do. I mean I had almost no contacts on my phone, so I might as well make the effort, right?

Now, it's like an early warning of sorts that tells me of who is calling, this way I have time to prepare in advance; think of the reason they're calling and what I could say to them.

Since then, I've really grown to appreciate my little phone call warning system.

Especially when my phone started playing the song "Freaky Friday" like it was now.

As soon as the song started playing, I immediately shot out of bed and scrambled for my phone, which was...probably hidden somewhere in the piles of dirty clothes on the floor. Just great.

I only had one contact on my phone that had that ringtone.

Cindy's Mom, Nari Moon

And she did not like to be kept waiting for anything, let alone a phone call, especially a phone call to me.

Sure, my intelligence may have endeared her to me when I was five, but as soon as puberty started taking its toll on both me and her daughter that endearment turned to begrudging approval and our interactions consisted solely of her watching (glaring) at me like a hawk whenever I'm with Cindy at her house and curt greetings.

Suffice to say, Miss Moon was already biting the bullet right now, so to speak, and me making her wait was only making things worse.

Why she was calling me now all of a sudden, I had no idea, but I knew better than to keep her waiting for me to answer the call and make our already tense relationship worse than it already was, if that was even possible.

So as soon as I managed to dig out my phone from underneath all my dirty laundry, I immediately pressed the answer button without a second thought and put it against my ear.

"H-hello, Mrs. Mo-"

"What took you so long?" a suspicious and demanding voice questioned curtly.

Uh... "...well you see...I was...uh"

"It's a simple question, need I repeat myself? What took you so long?" the voice came out even more insistent and demanding than it already was.

I gulped in fear, feeling very small. "I-um was...uh...sleeping?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"uh...telling you?"

I could practically hear Mrs. Moon's eyes narrow suspiciously on the other end.

"Telling you" I tried to amend with more confidence than I felt, which was non-existent to begin with because holy crap, Cindy's mom was terrifying.

It's no wonder Cindy never had a boyfriend, her Mom would send them running to the hills with just one phone call.

"Is my daughter with you?" she asked sharply.

"Cindy?" I asked dumbly, before cringing.

Of course, she meant Cindy. Who else could she have meant? She didn't have any other daughter.

I heard a frustrated sigh on the other end and I could practically see Mrs. Moon pinching the bridge of her nose and taking deep breaths, clearly running out of patience.

It's not like I was doing this on purpose or anything. Whenever Mrs. Moon calls I practically have a mini heart attack. Cindy is my best friend and all, but her mom is definitely not going to win any mother of the year awards anytime soon.

"Listen, when she calls you, tell her to come home this instant because she has school tomorrow and she has yet to catch up with all the lessons she's missed, since she wasted all day yesterday attending that gymnastics class of hers, do I make myself clear?"

I was too shocked to speak, still trying to process what Mrs. Moon just told me

I heard another frustrated sigh on the other end, followed by footsteps, before I heard Mrs. Moon mutter "Here, take it, maybe he'll be more willing to talk to you" and the sound of footsteps faded.

Huh, that was weird. I expected her to hang up out of frustration, not pass the phone to somebody else.

"H-Hello?" I prompted cautiously.

"Peter?"

I let out a huge sigh of relief as I recognized the voice.

Cindy's Dad, Albert Moon Sr., was always easier to talk to than her Mom, which was kinda funny because I always thought that the girl's dad was the one that was scary and the girl's mom is the one that was friendly.

Not that Cindy and I were dating or anything like that, so that sort of trope didn't really apply to us.

"Mr. Moon, g-good morning, sir." I greeted, feeling equal parts relieved and wary. "uh...is there something wrong, s-sir?"

Technically, Cindy's mom was the one who called first and she wasn't exactly one for social calls, especially this early in the morning.

The fact that Mr. Moon sighed wearily on the other end of the line was answer enough.

I gulped down the worry that I could feel building up in my throat and asked hoarsely. "Is something wrong, Mr. Moon? Does it have anything to do with..." your daughter's spider-induced puberty? "...Cindy?"

"You could say that, Peter."

That didn't sound good.

Stay calm, Peter, stay calm. He hasn't confirmed anything. At least not yet.

I wiped the cold sweat building up on my forehead and swallowed the lump in my throat before speaking. "W-why? What's wrong with Cindy?"

Please let this not be about what I think it is, please let this not be about what I think it is, please let this not be about what I think it is.

Mr. Moon sighed and I held my breath, waiting for the other shoe to fall.

"You haven't heard from her recently, have you, Peter?"

That did not make me feel better.

"No, sir, I haven't." I answered trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Another sigh then there was a long pause.

"Cindy and her mother got into another...disagreement yesterday morning"

I winced at that. Cindy demolishing half of the junkyard made a lot more sense now.

"Long story short, I suggested a compromise that Cindy was more than willing to take, but Nari was less than pleased"

"Oh no"

"That about sums it up. Anyway, Cindy ended up running out of the house that morning and she hasn't come home since. We were hoping that you might have an idea where she is right now."

Cindy didn't go home last night? Where did she go? Where else _could_ she go?

I was startled out of my worried thoughts, when Mr. Moon spoke again. "Listen, Peter, I know that you and my daughter have been joined to the hip ever since you met back when you were both five"

I stayed silent, not really knowing where Mr. Moon was going with this.

"And I'm grateful that you befriended my daughter when you did. She had always been lonely here and didn't really have any friends. Aside from her cousins who are back in South Korea, she didn't really socialize much with people close to her age."

I nodded along even though I knew Mr. Moon couldn't see it.

I already knew that Cindy was a wallflower when she was younger. All the summer camps and extra classes her mother forced her to take was the reason why she became bitter and silently rebellious like she was now.

"Personally, I think you're the best friend she's ever had, Peter, but the point I'm trying to make here is that aside from her Aunt and cousins in South Korea, you're the only other person she would open up to, since I'm certain that her Aunt would at least tell us if Cindy did run away to South Korea." Mr. Moon let out a sigh.

I wanted to defend Cindy...but I honestly wouldn't put it past her, especially since I stopped her from doing exactly that less than a year ago.

"When she contacts you, can you at least let me know? You don't have to tell me anything she doesn't want you to, but just let her know that...we're worried about her and that we love her, okay?"

"I promise"

"Thank you, Peter."

As soon as Mr. Moon disconnected the call, I wasted no time and dialled Cindy's number with shaky hands.

Her phone was ringing, good sign. It went to her voicemail, not a good sign.

"Hey, this is Cindy, sorry if I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can"

 _Beep._

I didn't bother leaving a message. I just called her again. Like before, her phone kept ringing until I got her voicemail.

"Hey, this is Cindy, sorry if I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can"

 _Beep._

I hung up again, not bothering to leave a message, before I dialled her number again, only to end up with the same results.

I kept trying and trying to call Cindy, even sending text messages in between calls, but she never picked up the phone and never texted back.

If I was worried before, then I was anxious now.

Why wasn't she picking up? Where was she, if she didn't go home last night? Did something happen to her while she was on her way to her gymnastics class? What if something did happen and I was wasting time calling her again and again like this, instead of going out to look for her? What if-

 _Click._

"Hello? Pete?"

I practically deflated in relief when I heard Cindy's voice on the other end of the line. Nothing happened to her! She's okay!

"Hello? Earth to Peter? Any reason why you're spamming my phone this early in the morning."

She was joking around, definitely a good sign. "Uh, yeah yeah, there is"

"..."

"..."

"Well?"

"Oh, yeah...um...just try not to hang up on me, okay?"

"That bad, huh?"

"Pretty much, yeah, but just hear me out, okay?"

"I haven't had my morning coffee or breakfast yet. No promises."

"Okay, fair enough...um..."

I honestly had no clue how to tell Cindy without her hanging up on me mid-way. I may have known her for a decade now, but she could still be unpredictable sometimes. When she and her mother had gotten into another fight, she was always like a minefield; literally anything could set her off.

"...I don't really know where to start" I told her honestly.

"Okay then, why don't I start for you and you just let me know if I got anything wrong."

Before I could answer, Cindy was already speaking.

"My parents, namely my Mom, called you this morning, probably gave you a panic attack, and asked if you knew where I was because they had assumed that I would be staying with you since I didn't come home last night. When you told them that I didn't stay with you last night, they asked you to tell me something, probably to come back home, and the reason why you're calling so persistently is because you also realized that you have no idea where I'm staying and are worrying yourself wondering if something had happened to me since I'm not answering my phone."

"..." I tried to make my mouth form a response, but it just kept opening and closing.

"I didn't get a single thing wrong, did I?" Cindy asked rhetorically.

"...Did that spider bite give you mind-reading powers, too? Because if it did, then that is really unfair" I replied, trying to lighten up the mood.

It didn't work

Cindy chuckled mirthlessly on the other end. "No, Pete, I don't have mind-reading powers. I don't need them to figure that much out."

I snorted disbelievingly "Well, how else could you know all that?"

"Simple. I know my mother. So, I know that she doesn't take losing control very well, especially when it comes to me and it's not like Mom and I are on the best of terms right now so it's not like she would call me. It only makes sense for her to call you and demand where I was and why I went MIA."

"She's just worried about you, Cin"

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Worried that I'll miss another day of school, you mean"

Was that...hurt in her voice? "...Cindy..."

"You don't have to say anything, Pete. I'm used to it by now. Over a decade of this kind of thing is more than enough time to do that."

I had no idea what to say that. I don't even know if there was anything I _could_ say to that.

I knew that she was lying, but calling her out on it will just make Cindy close herself off. So, I just stayed silent and waited for her to continue.

"Look, Pete, I'm not really ready to go back home, yet, okay?" she said after a long pause, obviously trying to change the subject.

"What? Why?" I blurted out.

"Ask that poor junkyard I demolished yesterday." she said dryly.

I stayed silent as images of Cindy surrounded by heaping piles of demolished metal and scattered glass came to mind, presumably caused by her own bare hands.

"I can't lose my temper around my family like before, Pete. In fact, I don't think I can get overly emotional around them anymore. Not with the way things are now. I don't want them to see just how much I've...changed because of that spider bite."

I knew exactly what she was thinking. "You're not a freak, Cindy. Even if they find out they'll still-"

"You don't know that, Pete. They're not like your Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Mom barely tolerates my gymnastics training as it is. She'd probably disown me if she ever found out that I'm some sort of mutant."

I opened my mouth to retort, but Cindy beat me to it.

"Look the bottom line is that, I'm not gonna be coming home anytime soon. Just know that where I'm staying now, I'm completely safe, okay?"

No. Not okay. This was nowhere near okay. But, I could understand why Cindy was doing this. I could see where she was coming from, even if I didn't necessarily agree with it.

"Okay, Cin...just try not to take too long, okay?"

Cindy snorted one the other end. "Don't worry, I'll make sure I show up in school tomorrow, so Mom doesn't come charging inside your apartment like a raging bull looking for me."

"I'm sure she wouldn't do that..." I paused as I really thought about it. "...would she?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. You'd be surprised at the lengths she'd go to"

"I'll just take your word for it, Cin. See you tomorrow?"

"Yup, see you then"

The disconnect tone rang and I stared at my phone for a few seconds. I thought about calling her family, but I dismissed that thought.

Whatever issues Cindy had with her family is between them. I didn't have the right to try and butt in on them. Cindy is my best friend and all, but that didn't mean I could just tell her what to do and when to do it when it come to these things. She had to decide that for herself.

Besides, part of me did understand where she was coming from and why she was staying away.

Plus, I'm sure Cindy will come around eventually, wherever she's staying, she can't possibly stay there forever...right? She'll go home when she's ready. I need to have faith in her.

In the meantime, since I'm already awake, I may as well work on those web shooter prototypes.

Superhero gadgets don't make themselves, after all.

 _._

 _Cindy Moon_

 _._

As soon as my finger touched the "end call" button, I turned my eyes back to the waiting Felicia and mentally cursed myself.

There was nothing to distract me from her anymore.

Part of me did regret cutting the call short without at least putting some distance between the two of us.

But the rest of me was pissed at the fact that Mom had called Peter this early in the morning, instead of calling me directly.

Okay sure, I probably wouldn't have picked up right away, but she still could've tried and called me. If she had tried to call me enough times, I would've answered because that would mean she was actually worried about me.

She didn't do that, though. Instead, she immediately called Peter and what's even worse is that she only cared about whether or not I would miss school tomorrow, not about how I was doing or where I was staying.

A few days ago she was all concerned and worried about me going to school in my condition to the point where she even let me stay home for two days. Now, she's not even a little bit concerned about my well-being and was more worried about whether I would miss school.

What happened to that whole putting my well-being before my education mindset she was spewing a few days ago? Where was that now? Or did that only apply when I looked like I was on my death bed.

I know that I probably should be used to this by now, but still...you'd think she would be a little more concerned about whether or not her only daughter was okay, instead of fretting about whether she will miss school tomorrow or not.

Did my daughter run away? Did I drive her away from me? Is this my fault? Is she alright? Did something happen to her? Mom never asked herself any of that.

Instead, the only thing she asked herself was 'Is she going to miss school tomorrow?'

I wasn't hurt, though. I knew better than that. Mom had always been like this, since I was five and it's been over ten years since then; plenty of time to get used to this.

I'm not hurt.

I refused to admit that I was hurt because I wasn't.

Feeling hurt means that I actually expected better from my mother, which I didn't.

I've long since come to terms that mom will never change.

Unshed tears stung my eyes and I took a few deep breaths discreetly to try and calm myself down.

It didn't work. It felt like something was squeezing my throat and my heart from the inside for some reason.

It wasn't because of hurt, though. I'm used to this by now. She's been like this for well over a decade. I expected nothing else from my mother.

Nope, not hurt at all.

Who cares if once upon a time, she used to treat me like an actual daughter?

Who cares if she used to shower me with all her love and affection?

Who cares if she used to take such good care of me whenever I wasn't feeling well?

Who cares if she hasn't done any of that for the past ten years?

And who cares if she didn't...love me anymore...

I certainly didn't! Why should I care?! Who needs her, anyway?! Because I definitely don't! Who needs her love anyway!

My chest felt like it was going to burst like a dam, making it difficult to breathe and my eyes were stinging with unshed tears but I held them back as much as I could.

A warm tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop myself, only to be wiped away by Felicia's hand as she gently caressed my face.

I looked at her through teary eyes, trying desperately to keep my tears from falling any further.

She was worried, her brow was furrowed in concern, her left hand was caressing my cheek, her right hand was resting on my waist and her eyes, her beautiful emerald green eyes, they were soft in how they were frantic and concerned.

"Cindy, are you okay?"

That's right.

I didn't need my mother's love, not anymore because standing in front of me right now was someone who _did_ love me.

Without warning, I wrapped my arms around her tightly and buried my face in her chest.

It took only a second before Felicia's warm and familiar arms engulfed me in their warm embrace. As soon as I was safely nestled in her warmth, the dam burst.

Hot tears ran down my cheeks as hiccuping sobs shook my shoulders and whines escaped my throat, all the while Felicia just stroked my hair and murmured reassurances in my ear.

Despite all the pain, though, I made a promise to myself.

This is the last time I'll cry over my mother.

.

.

 **Well that ends the first half of this chapter and while I know for a fact that not much happened in this chapter, but if you look closely, you'll find an interesting tidbit when it regards to what Cindy currently thinks of Felicia at this point of their relationship, as well as, a little foreshadow for future events.**

 **Anyways, if you're interested in this story or the author then click the follow button down below, if you really like the story and the author then click the favorite button, and if you have something to say or just want to leave words of encouragement, then take the time to write in the reviews section.**

 **Farewell For Now - K.I. Hernandez**


End file.
